You Can't See Me
by Kalinsub
Summary: Set in the Naruto world. Harry's soul merges with Naruto's soul due to accidents on the night of the attack. Naruto becomes adopted and gets an early start on his shinobi career. And then Danzo inevitably steps in.
1. Initiation

**Disclaimer: I do not own either Naruto of Harry Potter. Things would be different if I did.**

 **This idea (or at least parts of ideas) has been on my mind for quite some time now. After not being able to fall asleep at 2 in the morning and left without internet (don't ask) to get on LoL or try out FPS games again I decided to write some of these ramblings down. This was literally done in an hour so if there are any mistakes feel free to let me know.**

* * *

"Avada Kedavra."

"NO!" screamed Lily as she threw herself forward.

Her body slumped lifelessly to the ground as the green light hit her. A faint smile was left on her face, unnoticed by the man that was focused on the child in front of him.

Harry Potter was laying in his crib, all signs of crying stopped, as he stared at Voldemort with innocent curiosity as the green orbs that were his eyes followed his every movement. He knew what was going on, in a sense. The realization of the futility of crying dried his tears and instead he observed.

Voldemort raised his hand slowly and said with finality, "Avada Kedavra."

As the green light hit Harry, Lily's blood wards came into effect, activated by her death and tripped by that spell. It bounced back and struck Voldemort in the chest when something interesting happened.

The Killing Curse worked by removing the target's "soul" from its body, effectively rendering the body a lifeless sack of flesh. Lily Potter had known in advance that she could not find a ward that would protect her son from every type of attack in the future and eventually there would be something that got through, so she improvised. Taking a ward that was originally meant to reflect spells, she used what little knowledge of blood wards she had and turned it into a shield that would reflect malicious spells back at the user. Since Avada Kedavra was a dark spell, it could be countered by a dark shield which was what she had turned the blood ward into.

There were some disadvantages to it, however. It would only be active for an hour's time once activated and would reflect _any_ malicious spells within the radius of the ward. James Potter had agreed that the both of them would not be able to fight off Voldemort while still protecting Harry and things could go wrong if any of the variables changed within the ward which meant that he had agreed to forgo any chance of living to insure that their son would instead. This gave Lily enough time to set up the ward and die in the right circumstances for things to be in place for what happened next.

Instead of destroying Voldemort's soul which would have given him more chances to finish the job owing to his horcruxes, it literally ripped the magic from his body. However, as mentioned before, some of the variables were not the same as specified in the blood ward. There had to be two "souls" for it to work properly but Voldemort only had 3.125% of a soul residing within his current body as he had made 5 horcruxes. Instead of simply destroying the magic from Voldemort, it was thrust into Harry Potter without precision or carefulness, throwing his core into haywire as it compensated for the core of a 70-year-old core of one of the most powerful wizards in the world to meld with.

Voldemort let out a small, strangled cry and fell to the floor, dead. Lily's mistakes and lack of knowledge had actually worked in her favor as, instead of getting rid of Voldemort's soul, it attacked what he had no defense for.

When the hour that the ward was active for ended, it should have simply dissipated, but because of Lily's inexperience with blood wards, things didn't go as planned. Harry's soul was thrown into a sea of different dimensions, flashing in and out of each one with only a glimpse to show for each one, much like traveling with floo.

As this was going on, Harry's instinctive yearn for safety and protection drew his soul to a random dimension and sought out the most powerful force there.

As Harry's soul left, so did the magic from Voldemort. Without his magic in the universe to support his horcruxes, they quietly died, fulfilling the prophecy and releasing Harry from his connection to that universe.

When Dumbledore later found the bodies, he lamented the deaths of his favorite students and their child. He resolved to spend the rest of his life making sure that Neville Longbottom (as he was the only other child that even remotely fit the criteria set by the prophecy) would be ready for the day that Voldemort returned.

Voldemort never did end up returning and Neville had simple received free training from one who was widely regarded as the most powerful wizard since Merlin.

It made finding a job depressingly easy.

* * *

In the previously mentioned random dimension, the sealing of the Kyuubi into Naruto was happening and as the giant force of nature was sealed, a small flash of light lit up the area where the baby Naruto was at and everything calmed. Naruto had disappeared.

* * *

The body had appeared some distance away from the area in which the battle had taken place and was lying on the ground silently somewhere in the village.

Inside of the mindscape of Naruto was a different matter. Harry's soul was still in turmoil as everything that had happened to it so far was pushing it to the point of where it was about to break. The sewer-like mindscape that held the Kyuubi's prison chaotically forming and reforming itself into different scenes as two souls instinctively fought for dominance.

The only sign of the struggle going on inside of Naruto's body was the tensing of his limbs as they locked up and released randomly.

A civilian looked out some time later as sounds of the fighting had stopped and saw a child on the ground in the middle of the streets. Checking around to make sure that there was no danger, he quickly ran outside and picked up the twitching child.

When he brought him inside he wrapped him up in a blanket and made sure that he had no obvious injuries.

As the night came to a close he set the still moving body down on the couch. He made sure that the baby wouldn't randomly roll off onto the floor by surrounding it with more cloth and decided to find out whose child it was the next day.

* * *

Some time during the middle of the night, Naruto's body relaxed and stilled.

His eyes opened. The left was a brilliant green and the right was a shining blue.

* * *

 **So what do you guys think? I feel like there's a lot that I can do with this setup and it'll probably be really fun to write.**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**


	2. The Father

**I actually had this finished around 6 in the morning but I waited just in case there was anything else I might want to add to it. I'm keeping most of these chapters pretty short right (less than 3k words) now since I'm mostly writing this for fun and I'm not too sure where it'll go.**

 **Big thanks to Hibuki for checking through it for me. I think I was hallucinating when I wrote this because I was so tired and he found quite a few errors for me that would have been embarrassing to post.**

* * *

The next morning, the civilian that had picked up Naruto headed towards a nearby orphanage while carrying the child. The child was oddly quiet and observant despite it obviously not knowing what was going on. Though many areas in the village had been destroyed by the recent attack, the civilian was lucky enough to be living in a part that was only minimally affected by it.

He had to wait for about half an hour to talk to the matron as she was apparently in the middle of something. She was a stern looking woman with brown hair and piercing eyes who looked to be in her mid-forties.

"My name is Mishima Yoshino. How may I help you?" she asked, glancing towards the child that he was carrying.

"I found this child in the middle of the streets last night during the attack. I don't know whose it might be and I can't support a child right now."

She nodded, accustomed to seeing people that had or found children they were unable to take care of.

"I'll go get the necessary paperwork. Please wait right here."

* * *

When the man, Higo Kazuki as he had written down on the papers, had left, Yoshino held the child up and looked at him closely. She had never before seen a child so peculiar. Everything about him seemed to stand out from the bright yellow hair to the strange whisker marks that were on his cheeks. And that was without mentioning his beautiful eye colors.

She nodded to herself in confirmation. _This one will get picked up fast._ Whenever a child was adopted, it was almost always because of their looks. If people ever stuck around and talked to them, then sometimes one with a lovable personality would be chosen instead. However, that was few and far in between. A child with such striking features would immediately be noticed by anyone looking to adopt.

* * *

Naruto was understandably confused. His memories were jumbled and he was being moved around by a strange man. He seemed not to have any harmful intentions so he let him do as he pleased without raising a fuss. Soon, the man left and he was given to a woman that peered at him closely for a few moments before calling out for another woman to come take him to one of the rooms.

Since there seemed to be other children that were still asleep when the woman set him down, he closed his eyes and drifted off as well. He was still exhausted from last night's happenings and he was technically not even a day old yet.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was sitting back at his old desk again when a knock sounded on the door. It was three days after the Kyuubi attack and he was already feeling the pains of paperwork again. That, along with the recent deaths that had occurred, was taking its toll on him.

"Enter," he called out.

A chuunin quickly walked in with some papers.

"Hokage-sama. We've found a child that closely fits the descriptions."

Hiruzen immediately sat up. "Report."

"Hai. Apparently, the day after the attack, a man by the name of Higo Kazuki brought a baby to an orphanage claiming that he had found it right after the battle had ended and took it inside."

He handed the papers over and stood at attention as the Hokage looked through them.

 _This child has green and blue eye when Minato's son only had blue eyes. There was nothing in the sealing to suggest such a change. The whisker marks are also something unexpected. I must keep a close eye on this._ Hiruzen was troubled by this since if there was anything with the sealing that had gone awry, it could spell disaster for the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

He sent the chuunin off to find someone and leaned back in his seat. Things would have to be delicately handed or else a small mistake could blow up in his face. Danzo was already breathing down his neck about the jinchuuriki going missing and he was just lucky that none of the civilians knew exactly what had happened that night. Though the child on the papers had some differences from the Naruto he had glimpsed during the attack, there were enough similarities for him to correctly guess that it was the same one. The timing of when the child had appeared was also too perfect to be a coincidence.

He sighed as he began to prepare the necessary paperwork.

Half an hour later, another knock sounded on the door.

"Enter."

A man walked in with a frown on his face.

"Hokage-sama. What did you call me in for?"

A small smile graced his face as the blunt question brought back memories of days when the face of man in front of him was one that was associated with happier times.

"I have another mission for you."

The man shook his head regretfully. "Hokage-sama, you know that I have left that life behind. I have a family now, small as it is. I cannot simply abandon what I have. You know that if I could then I would become a shinobi again, but I cannot."

Hiruzen waited for him to finish before speaking again. "Do not worry. This will not interfere with the life that you now lead. In fact, it is because of the life that you now lead that is why I have chosen you for this."

"I don't understand. What do you mean, Hokage-sama?"

"Your old teammate. He had a son."

The man's eyes widened. His legs buckled and his knees hit the floor with an audible thud. "He had… a son?"

"Hai. You understand what the situation is now, correct? With the Kyuubi attack?"

He nodded, as if in a trance. "What does he look like?" he finally asked.

Hiruzen pushed forward the papers containing the information.

The man slowly stood up and stared at the papers as if they held the secrets of the universe.

"Naruto-kun…" He muttered, his eyes watering. "I had thought that there was something not right about it… For a tailed beast to be killed… But I never thought that it was this. And this is his son?" he asked again, as if he couldn't believe it.

"Hai. Your mission will be to raise his son. To protect him until the time comes for him to fulfill his obligations to the village. You are the only that can do this and the life you now lead will be the perfect mask to keep him safe. Can I trust you in this?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama, you can." said the man as he straightened. To Hiruzen, it was as though years had been shed off his face with determination shining through him as if it were back in the day of when he was still a shinobi, serving to protect the village that he loved. "I will not fail. Is that all?"

"Hai. You will be given a certain amount of money each month in order to compensate for taking care of another child will have regular ANBU surveillance in case anything goes wrong. Here is the paperwork so that you do not run into any problems with the adoption." He handed over the papers that signified it was an order by the Hokage. "From this day on, we are to have no contact so that there will be minimal suspicion as to what has happened. Dismissed."

The man nodded one more time and walk out, his back straighter and his stride filled will with purpose.

* * *

Mishima Yoshino taking care of the older children when she was called to the front as another person had come in asking for her.

"My name is Mishima Yoshino. How may I help you?" she asked, taking in the man's appearance. His clothes were a bit ruffled, as if he had come here in a hurry. They were also of average quality. That, coupled along with the fact that he had come by himself, raised some questions for her since a single male was an unlikely candidate for one looking to adopt, but she could see no other reason for him being here.

"May I see the children here that are under the age of one?" he asked without preamble.

"For what reason?"

"I am here to adopt a child."

Her left eyebrow raised slightly but she acquiesced nonetheless. "Please follow me."

* * *

The man followed Yoshino, trembling slightly as he went. She led the way to one of the rooms that was close to the back of the building.

"Please be quiet as they are still asleep."

He nodded absently as he walked into the room. His eyes immediately locked onto the child with blond hair that was sleeping quietly near the back of the room.

"Him," he whispered as he pointed towards him. "I will adopt him."

Yoshino looked to where he was pointing. "I am sorry, sir, but there have been a few requests for adoption this child and we have been forced to postpone and final decisions. You understand how it is with what happens after a crisis hits. The richer families see it as an opportunity to pick up some children for their families, either to be treated as servants or to be married off when they are older," she said, disgust lacing her words.

He silently handed over the papers that the Hokage had given him.

Her eyes widened as she read what was on them and glanced back to him.

"I see. In that case, please fill out the paperwork at the front."

* * *

Naruto woke up as he was picked up by another man. This time he was taken out of the building where he had been at for the previous few days and to a different one. This one seemed to be a bit smaller and had no other people in it other than the man he was being carried by.

He was set down on a bed and the man stepped back, watching him carefully with tense shoulders.

"Hi there, Naruto-kun," said the man, with a quiver in his voice. "I'm going to be your tou-san from now on."

Naruto stared back with curious eyes, not quite understanding what the man was saying. He just knew that something important was going on for the man.

The man gave a quiet laugh at Naruto's questioning gaze.

"My name is Ichiraku Teuchi."

* * *

 **I was thinking about making it a cliff hanger but then I decided it was WAY too early in the story to start putting things like that out. Did anyone of you guys guess who it was going to be before the end?**

 **And for all of you people out there saying that it's not how canon worked well, two things: one, it's a fanfiction so it's not supposed to be exactly canon, and two, in a flashback where it shows Minato with his team, there's a person that looks suspiciously like a younger Teuchi. Nothing has ever been confirmed about his teammates of course, but it would definitely make sense if you think about it. The whole village hates Naruto except the owner of a ramen stand? Yeah, right.**

 **As for pairings, there are none yet. All of the characters will be very similar to how they are in canon unless there's a reason for me to change it. Teuchi is obviously different (unless he was already like this and his mission was to look over Naruto instead of adopting him), but I don't think there will be any major changes other than that.**

 **Anyways, what do you guys think?**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**


	3. Set

**So I DIDN'T write this at 3 in the morning again. I actually started a bit earlier and Hibuki helped with the editing again :)**

 **To be honest, I didn't really know how to start this chapter off so I just went with what came to mind.**

* * *

Teuchi winced as a piercing squeal reverberated throughout the room. Ayame had spotted Naruto. She had a penchant for going crazy over cute animals and children that were smaller than her. Her large eyes that were filled with warmth and the soft brown hair that framed her delicate face made her a person that one instinctively trusted.

"So kawaii! Who is he Tou-san?" she asked, running over to pick up Naruto.

Naruto, alarmed by the sudden noise, disappeared from his spot on the bed with a loud crack.

Ayame stumbled backwards and tripped over her own feet, falling to the ground.

"What?" she squeaked. "What happened?"

Naruto had appeared on the other side of the bed, carefully peering at her with his dual-colored eyes.

Teuchi watched with wide eyes, not sure what to make of what happened.

"This is Naruto-kun. He's a very special boy, and he's going to be living with us from now on," he said carefully. He had never seen or heard of what Naruto had done before. The closest thing he could think of was of Minato's Hiraishin but Naruto was just a baby and Hiraishin was done with fuuinjutsu instead of being a technique that used chakra. Even if it were, Naruto was still too young, and his chakra network should have been too undeveloped to do anything. And yet… Who knew what could have happened with the sealing of the kyuubi? He would wait and see what other developments would happen, but he wouldn't raise a fuss about it as long as it didn't hurt anyone. "He's your new otouto."

"My otouto?" asked Ayame reverently. She had always wanted a younger sibling but she knew that it was impossible as her mother had passed away when she was born. She had seen other families with multiple children but that had been an experience she had never thought she would have.

"Hai. You'll treat him well won't you, Ayame?"

She nodded vigorously. "I'll be the best nee-san ever!"

Teuchi laughed. "I'm sure you will."

"I really will be!" she fumed.

"I know, Ayame. I know." He smiled to himself. Ayame always had such a good heart. Whenever there were kids that came into Ichiraku Ramen, she always made sure that they got extra toppings. The happy thanks that she got in return and the smile that stayed on her face afterwards were more than enough for him to allow it in his opinion. Naruto would be fine with her. "I'm going to have to head out now. There's still a lot of work to be done in helping rebuild the village and everyone has to pitch in to help. Do you think you'll be okay at home with Naruto-kun? He just needs sleep and maybe some food if he gets hungry later."

"Hai, Tou-san. I'll take care of him!" she exclaimed as seriously as she could.

Teuchi gave another laugh before patting her on the head. He glanced at Naruto once more before leaving.

Ayame slowly walked over to Naruto once her tou-san was gone. He hadn't moved from his spot and was still watching her.

"Hi, Naruto-kun. I'm your nee-san. You shouldn't disappear from me like that again!" she said with all the authority her seven-year-old self could muster.

Naruto gurgled happily.

She kept a serious face for a few moments before she relented. "I can't stay mad at you Naruto-kun. Please don't do that again, okay?"

Another gurgle and a laugh this time.

She sighed. "I don't talk baby. I don't know what you're saying, Naruto-kun!" She gingerly reached over to pick him up, and this time he let her. "It's okay though. You're so cute, Naruto-kun. You're the cutest baby ever, and you're my otouto now."

Naruto reached out with a small hand and patted her on the cheek.

Ayame gave a smile and hugged him closer. "Tou-san said you should go to sleep again. I'll stay here with you, okay?"

She tucked Naruto in and climbed under the covers with him. They fell asleep shortly afterwards.

* * *

Many people underestimated Teuchi. After all, he was just a ramen stand owner. During his time as a shinobi, he was in the ANBU which meant that few, if any, knew who he was back then. Morbid as the thought was, the only person that he could think of that was alive today that truly knew who he used to be was probably the Hokage himself. Even his commander at the time only knew him from his mask.

Taking that into account, it was an easy task to keep an eye on Naruto and watch out for anything suspicious going on. However, with Naruto, a blind man would have noticed something wasn't quite right due to all of the unexplainable things that happened around him.

There were only so many things that he could chalk up to Naruto having the Kyuubi sealed inside him. Nearly all of them he could sense as they were accompanied by brief flashes of chakra (such as one of the ramen cookers randomly blowing up one day). Apparently having a tailed beast sealed into a baby forced the chakra coils to develop early. Go figure.

There were a few smaller things that were because of the Kyuubi but didn't give off any chakra. Things such as how durable he was (Naruto once fell from the top of his house and merely brushed it off. He was two at the time), how much inexhaustible energy he had (though he wasn't sure if that wasn't just because he was a child. Ayame gave him a run for his money at times), and the whisker marks on his cheeks.

However, those things were nothing compared to the everyday abnormalities that accompanied Naruto. The very first instance was the first day that he took Naruto home. He vividly remembered the shock that went through him when Naruto _teleported_. It didn't take too much time and effort for Teuchi to figure out that episodes like that happened because of extreme emotions, and he soon taught Naruto how to control them. He wasn't sure if that was the best idea though since Naruto was prone to playing pranks whenever the opportunity arose despite being mature for his age, and being able to control his emotions allowed him to develop an extremely effective poker face early on.

"Was this you, Naruto?" asked Teuchi as he gestured to his drenched clothes. He was at home getting ready to go and open up the ramen stand for the day and was walking out of his room when a bucket of water had fallen off of his door frame, soaking him.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise and shook his head, looking to the world as he if would never even think of doing something like that. It was very believable and if Teuchi hadn't known Naruto then he might have fallen for it.

But he did know Naruto so he eyed him skeptically. "Oh? So a bucket of water just suddenly appeared on top of my door and splashed onto me?"

Naruto having a good poker face didn't mean that Teuchi couldn't tell when he was lying though.

Four years old and he had already pranked him more times than he could count.

Naruto shrugged innocently.

Luckily, Ayame usually gave it away when they came up with a prank together.

She was standing beside him and couldn't hold it in any longer, bursting into laughter that had Naruto following suit soon after. The both of them ended up rolling on the floor laughing themselves silly.

"Naruto. Ayame," Teuchi muttered darkly, a tick mark forming on his head. They looked up at him in fear. "You two are washing all of the dishes today!"

"No!" they cried out in unison.

Ichiraku Ramen had slowly been getting more and more business over the years so washing all of the dishes for an entire day was an ordeal that they definitely did not want to go through. Their tou-san was the one that usually washed most of them while they simply helped out when it got to be too much. He was hoping that Ayame would be able to become a permanent helper when she got older in case she chose to work in the ramen stand with him.

"No whining. Naruto, you can use this as a chance to practice your Genjitsu. Knowing you, you used that to set up this prank anyway." He had dubbed the ability that Naruto had as "Genjitsu". Unlike Genjutsu which was a false manipulation of the senses, Naruto could manipulate actual things in small ways such as raising a bucket of water up much further than his tiny body could actually reach. He hadn't managed to do anything too big yet but that was already something that he had never imagined. Even more incredible was once, when Naruto was around three years old, Ayame had seen a small white kitten across the street that had been injured and lost its front left leg.

She picked it up, brought it home, and had spent hours trying to take care of it. When Naruto realized how sad the crippled cat was making Ayame, he reached over and softly touched the cat. From the stump of the cat's leg swiftly grew a fake leg that closely resembled the other three legs but had subtle differences such as not actually having claws and the flesh more closely resembling metal than anything else, though it still looked normal from a brief glance. At that point, Ayame had already been accustomed to the weird things that happened around Naruto so she didn't question it too much. Even the _living_ mouse that Naruto had somehow created only got a raised eyebrow from her. She trusted her tou-san to know best and he had told her to keep things like that a secret from other people.

The cat quickly ran away but soon returned and became a regular visitor for Ayame and Naruto who both loved to feed her scraps. Naruto, with all the imagination and ingenuity of a small child, named her "Miso" after his favorite type of ramen. Of course, right when Ayame found out about that she immediately changed her name to "Momo" instead. She thought that naming a cat after ramen was silly and refused to listen to Naruto's arguments that naming it after a fruit wasn't any better.

Since Naruto's ability wasn't something that was crucial for the Hokage to know about immediately, Teuchi had kept quiet about it. The less people that knew about it, the better. He was hoping that when Naruto became a ninja, his ability would be able to save his life one day. The average career as ninja was already dangerous enough, being a Jinchuuriki just added more perils.

Come to think of it, Naruto was getting closer and closer to the age that he would be enrolled in the academy. Most civilians enrolled their children in the academy around the age of six and later on they would choose whether or not they would take the classes to become shinobi. Some people, notably clan heads and the richer civilians, would sometimes decide to hire tutors to teach their children at home and they would only enroll them in the academy later and sometimes not at all if they didn't think it was needed. Ayame herself had graduated from the academy two years ago but had opted to stay a civilian.

* * *

Later that night Teuchi decided that it was time to begin Naruto's training. Ayame was able to decide whether or not she wanted to become a ninja but Naruto's fate was set the moment the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him. Teuchi would start off small at first and then move onto bigger things, but hopefully it would give Naruto enough of an advantage later on that it would make a difference. He was just lucky that Naruto was already enamored with becoming a ninja. Teuchi wasn't sure what he would do if he had to force Naruto to become a ninja instead of him already wanting to become one.

He waited for them to head to their room before he called out to Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto," said Teuchi.

"What?" Naruto grumbled in reply. He was still sullen that he had to wash all the dishes for that day with Ayame. He did have to admit that it was getting a lot easier to use his Genjitsu though.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

Ayame figured it was something private so she went ahead and left them alone.

"What is it, Tou-san?"

"Would you like me to help you train?" asked Teuchi.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto, perking up. His tou-san had helped him with his Genjitsu but he had never talked about anything else before.

"You know that ninja go through special training before they become ninja, right?"

Naruto nodded excitedly.

"How would you like Tou-san to teach you some of that training?"

"You know how to be a ninja?"

"Of course I do! Don't you believe in Tou-san?" asked Teuchi with a smile. The best place to hide was in plain sight.

"I believe you, Tou-san…" Naruto trailed off hesitantly, obviously lying. "I've just never seen you do any ninja things before."

"Not to worry, Naruto. Tou-san has some books that can help you out. Follow me." Teuchi made his way upstairs to his room as Naruto came with him. His house was a basic civilian house that was two stories tall and made compactly so as to not take up too much space. In his room there was a small bookshelf that was mainly dedicated to books about cooking.

A few days earlier he had gone through some of his old shinobi gear and found some books on chakra exercises that Naruto could use. Luckily, Ayame already been teaching Naruto how to read from when he pestered her about what she was doing during the day time so he wouldn't have to spend too much time on that. As long as Naruto was diligent, he could let him teach himself and just give a few pointers here and there whenever it was needed.

"Do you know what chakra is, Naruto?"

Naruto shook his head.

"It's something that all ninja use in some way in order to let them do jutsu. You've read stories about the first Hokage, Hashirama, and how he used wood to fight, right?"

"Hai," Naruto nodded, already seeing where this was going.

"He could do all of that because of chakra." He handed Naruto the books on chakra. There were only about five of them and most of them were pretty thin. "These books will explain some of that to you if you would like to learn. Some of them are on the theory of chakra and some of them show how you can practice mastering your chakra."

"Thank you, Tou-san," said Naruto, bowing.

"If you read through some of them and you decide that you would like to learn more, there are some training grounds near the end of the village that you can go to. If you have any questions, you can come ask me."

* * *

"What did Tou-san want to talk to you about?" asked Ayame, peering curiously at the books that Naruto was holding.

"Tou-san said he would help me become a ninja!"

"Really? That's weird. People don't usually start on things like that until they're a bit older."

"I know, but most people can't jump either, can they?" asked Naruto before teleporting to the other side of the room with a nearly inaudible crack. He had begun working on making the noise from the teleporting go away about a year ago when Ayame noted that his pranks could get a lot better if he were able to pop around without anyone realizing it. Naruto had called it "jumping" since that was what it felt like to him. The only limitations on that seemed to be that he couldn't jump to a place he hadn't been to before.

"True. I don't think there's anyone else that can do that," laughed Ayame, turning around to face him again.

"Yeah. Tou-san said that there were some training grounds that I could use to practice the stuff in these books."

"Can I see them?" she asked.

"Sure." He handed them over for her to look at.

She looked through them for a few moments before commenting, "These are a lot better than the ones we had in the academy."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they had a library where they had some books on shinobi training but none of them were really detailed. I heard that you only got the more detailed ones if you decided to take the shinobi classes. I just took basic classes so I never learned about any of that stuff."

She handed them back to Naruto.

"Well, we'd better go to sleep if we want to get up early."

"Huh?" said Naruto eloquently.

"Don't you want me to show you were the training grounds are? We're going to have to get up early if I'm going to take you there and still make it in time for work." Ayame replied with a smile.

"Yeah! Thanks, Ayame-nee!"

* * *

 **So this chapter is a bit longer since I want to start getting into the main story line soon. I'm hoping that I was able to show what kind of personality this Naruto has after being raised by a loving family. Harry's soul hasn't played much of a role yet, but when he starts training it'll probably have an impact on it.**

 **As you guys can probably tell, his magic is something completely separate from his chakra. He hasn't even actually used his chakra yet. The reason why I let him start using magic this early was because children performed accidental magic all the time. Since he has a parent that is trying to get him ready for the life of a shinobi, he is obviously going to have someone pushing to to learn how to use his abilities and hone them as much as possible. You could compare it to having a bloodline if you'd like.**

 **What do you guys think about Ayame? I've always loved her in canon since she was basically his older sister anyway. I wish that we would have seen more of her in the anime because I'm pretty sure that she had a MAJOR impact on Naruto's personality and we don't even know how they really met.**

 **Next chapter will get into his training and all that good stuff.**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**


	4. Just an Ordinary Guy

**I had some things going on and didn't feel well for a bit so I put off writing this chapter for a day. I managed to get this one out at three in the morning but I have to get up early tomorrow ._.**

 **Also, thanks for all of the reviews, guys! It really means a lot to me and I'm thankful that you've taken the time to write me some feedback.**

 **Hope you guys like it!**

* * *

"Hey, Naruto. Wake up."

Naruto groaned groggily as he sat up. "What happened?"

"I don't know, you tell me," said Ayame. Naruto was on the ground in the restroom.

He thought for a moment before he blushed. "I was reading through some of the books last night when I fell asleep?" he half answered, half asked.

"Oh, Naruto. What am I going to do with you?" said Ayame with a sigh. "Hurry up and get dressed or else we won't make it in time."

"Hai!" he shot up and saluted.

Ayame laughed and planted a kiss on his forehead. "I'll be waiting downstairs."

* * *

As Naruto rushed downstairs, he was greeted with his father and Ayame standing downstairs waiting for him.

"Tou-san, what are you doing up so early?" asked Naruto. It was weird seeing him not in his chef's apparel that he usually came with. Naruto and Ayame usually dressed in casual clothes anyway; Naruto had on a blue T-shirt with black pants while Ayame was wearing a long-sleeve purple shirt and dark green pants. Teuchi, on the other hand, was wearing a tan shirt with dark blue pants.

Teuchi smiled. "I promised that I'd help you train didn't I?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, come on. Let's head out. The day's early and we have a lot to get started on."

"What about the ramen stand?"

"Don't worry, I put up a sign last night saying that we'd be closed today."

"Come on, Naruto, let's go," said Ayame. "I can give you a piggy back ride on the way there."

"Yeah!" shouted Naruto.

As they made their way out of the house, Momo jumped down from the top of their house where she was hiding and decided to follow them.

"You're coming with us, Momo?" asked Ayame curiously.

The cat meowed in response.

"Where is the training ground, anyway?" asked Naruto as he began playing with Ayame's hair.

"It's supposed to be on the edges of the village near the forest, right, Tou-san?" asked Ayame.

"Hai. There are a few training grounds but the one that I'm taking Naruto to is one that isn't used as often by most people. It's closer to the village which means that even though it's less of a walk, it's more dangerous to use destructive jutsu there. Some of the shinobi even train in the forest sometimes."

"Wow. Aren't there big animals in the forest?" questioned Naruto.

"There are, but most shinobi can handle themselves. You're just going to be working on the basics for now. Once you get better at it, we can start using the training grounds where the more dangerous jutsu are okay."

Momo decided this was the perfect time to jump onto Naruto's shoulder and begin licking his face.

Ayame glanced back at them with a mock scowl. "You two are lucky you're both so light. I wouldn't be able to carry you two otherwise."

Naruto beamed as he grabbed Momo and perched her on top of Ayame's head. "Thanks, Ayame-nee! You're the best!"

Momo curled up and decided to take an impromptu nap as they continued their way through the village. It wasn't long before they made it to the edges of the village and into one of the training grounds. It was mostly a large open clearing that had trees surrounding it with one trail leading to it which they had just come from.

Naruto hopped off before asking and turned to Teuchi. "Is this where I'm going to train?"

"Hai," he answered. "Ayame told me that you had read through some of the books last night. How far did you get?"

"Well, I read through all of them but I didn't really know how to do what some of them were talking about. The parts that were talking about leaf-sticking and tree-walking. I got the parts that were explaining what chakra was though."

Teuchi nodded to himself. They wouldn't have to waste time going through theory and could jump into practicing some things.

"Alright. The first thing that you can practice is the leaf-sticking exercise. What do you remember about it?"

"It was something about using your chakra to make the leaf stick to your body, right?"

"Hai. See that tree over there?" asked Teuchi, pointing over to a nearby tree. "Pick up one of the leaves and sit down in lotus position or any position that feels comfortable. We'll start there."

Naruto made his way over to the tree and sat down. He picked up one of the leaves that were lying on the ground and looked back over at his father and sister.

"How-" he paused. Then he broke out into giggles. Momo was still perched on top of Ayame's head and was fast asleep.

Ayame realized where he was looking and crossed her arms with a huff. She then scowled at him before yelling at him, "It's not funny!"

"Yes it is!" Naruto shouted back.

Teuchi chuckled. "It is quite the sight, but are you here to laugh at cats or do you want to learn how to be a ninja?"

Naruto immediately sat up ramrod straight. "Learn how to be a ninja!"

"Alright then. First things first. Do you remember that time you blew up one of the ramen cookers?"

"Yes…?" said Naruto hesitantly. He hadn't known that his tou-san knew that was him.

"Do you remember what you felt before it blew up?"

"I think I felt something warm inside of me."

"Good. I want you to focus on that feeling and try to make it happen again. It might take a while, so be patient."

"Hai." Naruto closed his eyes and focused. A few minutes later he opened his eyes and called out, "I think I feel it, Tou-san."

"Good. Now take the leaf and put it on your forehead."

Naruto took it and held it right in the center.

"Now what?"

"Now, I want you to let go of the leaf and try to make it stick by concentrating that warm feeling to your forehead where the leaf is at."

As he let go his of the leaf his eyes widened. "It's working, Tou-san!"

Right when he said it, however, the leaf slowly fluttered back down to the ground.

"What! What happened?" cried out Naruto in surprise.

Teuchi laughed. "You lost your concentration, Naruto. To be able to do this, you must be able to concentrate no matter what distractions there are. That includes your emotions. It's similar to your Genjitsu; sometimes your chakra can randomly come out whenever you are experiencing extreme emotions but you must be in control of them if you are to use it effectively."

Naruto's eyes narrowed thoughtfully before he picked up the leaf and tried again. This time it stuck on.

"Good job, Naruto!" called out Ayame from the other side of the clearing. She had apparently gone over there to play with Momo while keeping an eye on Naruto's progress. "How did you figure out how to do it so fast?"

"I think it's because it's almost the same as my Genjitsu," replied Naruto. "It's just like I'm using power from a different place. When I use Genjitsu I focus more about thinking about it and wanting it to happen but with chakra it's more of me just finding it inside of me and then using it."

Teuchi nodded thoughtfully. "That's a good way to put it. I honestly didn't think that you would be able to control it so well so fast. I guess we'll have to make the training harder."

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

"Simple. We just add more leaves!" grinned Teuchi.

* * *

By the end of the day, Naruto had progressed pretty far. He was able to do leaves on up to three different parts of his body without much problem, but his control got a bit shaky once it was more than that. At one point, he had expelled a leaf with such force that it had cut into a nearby tree.

After their ramen break that had happened halfway through the day, Teuchi had come up with another exercise when Momo had kept trying to catch the leaves that Naruto had expelled. He told Naruto to gather a pile of leaves and shoot them from the palm of his hand into the air for Momo to catch. He told Naruto that once he got better at it, he could shoot more leaves from his other hand and maybe even other body parts later on.

When the sun started setting, they made their way back home. Naruto was on Ayame's back again and was quietly dozing off. Momo had also taken her spot on his shoulder.

"I've never seen Naruto this tired before," she commented to her tou-san.

"Hai. His body isn't used to using that much chakra so it will take time for him to be able to use it without getting tired."

They walked for a bit in silence.

"Ne, Tou-san?"

"What is it?"

"That wasn't normal, was it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Naruto being able to use chakra so easily. I've heard of what some of the other kids go through with their training and they usually take weeks, if not months just to be able to feel their chakra. Naruto was able to use it just minutes after you explained it to him."

Teuchi looked up at the setting sun and sighed tiredly. He seemed to age before her eyes.

A few moments passed before he spoke again. "Do you remember what I told you when you first saw him?" he finally asked.

"About him being a special boy?"

"Hai."

"What about it?"

"There are some secrets about Naruto, Ayame, that very few people in this village know about. If the wrong people were to find out, bad things could happen, not just to us or Naruto, but everyone in the entire village."

"Is it that serious?" she asked before she thought about it for a moment. Then she realized that, yes, it was that serious. "Never mind."

Naruto had been able to do to things that he hadn't even heard of shinobi being able to do before. Sure, some of the things were things that there were similar techniques that shinobi used, but it wasn't the same.

His "jumping" was similar to the Shunshin but she knew that it was different. Shunshin was using chakra to move your body at high speeds and that could be hindered if you weren't out in the open but instead inside a building where there were walls. Naruto had been able jump from room to room and even to buildings on the other side of the village with consistent ease. He had been careful to only jump to buildings that didn't have any people in there just so he could get some practice, but it was frightening to think of the type of assassin Naruto could become if he ever completely got rid of the noise. It wasn't an unreal expectation either as it was already almost unnoticeable unless you were listening for it.

His other abilities, such as being able to move things without touching them, also created many possibilities that were only limited by his imagination. That was only a small part of what he could do, too. Many other things, such as creating matter from nothing, would allow Naruto to completely work over other shinobi. The only real thing holding him back at the moment was his physical capabilities and his inexperience. And he also seemed to abhor killing despite wanting to become a ninja. The first time he saw his tou-san crush a small bug he had burst into tears.

"No, Ayame," said Teuchi.

She looked at him questioningly.

"It probably isn't what you're thinking. Am I correct in assuming that you think it's because of his abilities?"

She nodded.

"No. Although his abilities are something that I haven't been able to explain, and are something truly amazing in their own right, they aren't the reason why Naruto is so special. At least, not to the village." He glanced over at Naruto. "He's still too young to be told about why, but I think I should tell you so that you can take care of him in case he finds out by accident."

They had made it to their house by this time.

"Put him to bed and meet me in my room afterwards."

"Hai." She took him up to their room and tucked him into bed. Momo jumped off and curled up on the pillow next to him.

She made her way to her tou-san's room where he stood at the window, gazing out at the village.

"Please, sit down," he said, gesturing to the bed.

She did as he told and waited for him to speak.

"Do you remember the Kyuubi?"

Ayame looked up in surprise at the question.

"Hai."

"Everyone knows how the Kyuubi was defeated by the Yondaime Hokage when he sacrificed his life for the village. What very few people know is that the Kyuubi was never killed."

Ayame's eyes widened in shock at the declaration.

"What happened to it?" she asked.

"As you may know, the Yondaime was a seal master whose only equal was his sensei, Jiraiya of the Sannin. To understand what happened and why it happened you must know a few things about the tailed beasts. One is that they are beings made up of chakra, and two is that they cannot be killed because they are not living creatures in the way you and I are. They can only be sealed off, and if you manage a way to destroy their bodies, they reform after a certain amount of time. The Yondaime knew this and chose to sacrifice himself to save the village seal the Kyuubi."

Ayame listened without making a sound.

"Another thing about the tailed beasts is that they are too powerful to be sealed by normal methods. They cannot be sealed the way that some ninja may seal their kunai or other weapons. No, they are immense beings that would tear through and destroy and mundane methods of sealing so the Yondaime had to find another way. This is where you must learn of the Jinchuuriki."

"A human sacrifice?"

"Hai. The only way that a tailed beast can be contained is for it to be sealed in a living human. The problem with that is that most people cannot withstand the chaos that their body would go through with the sealing of a tailed beast so the only option left is for it to be a small child, usually below the age of two. Although there have been some exceptions, this is usually the case."

Ayame gasped. "You don't mean…?"

Teuchi nodded gravely. "Naruto is the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune. Do not let this change your perception of him, Ayame. He is still Naruto. As far as I know, the only ways that the Kyuubi has affected him are with his whisker marks and his ability to use chakra. The strange powers that he exhibits are likely not to be of from the Kyuubi. The previous container of the Kyuubi had not displayed anything other normal, albeit powerful, abilities. Naruto himself does not even know about the Kyuubi being sealed inside of him."

"But then why… How could the Yondaime do that to him?!" cried out Ayame in outrage. "Naruto was just a baby! Why did he…" her mouthed clamped shut with an audible clack as she finally realized. "Naruto is the Yondaime's…?"

"Hai. Namikaze Naruto is the son of the Yondaime. When he found out what needed to be done, he sacrificed his only child for the good of the village, a true Hokage."

"But why did it have to be Naruto? Why couldn't it be someone else?"

"Like I said before, Ayame, it had to be a child or else the sealing wouldn't work. If he had sealed it into someone that could have made the choice, then the Kyuubi would have simply broken out again and the problem would have been worse than before. We wouldn't have had a Yondaime Hokage the second time."

"But…"

"You must understand this, Ayame. The Yondaime did not have many options open to him. It was either going to be his own son or it would have been someone else's son. The Yondaime chose to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the village: his life and his family's."

"Does that mean that the Yondaime was married?"

Teuchi gave a small smile at that. "I'm not sure, but I'd like to think so. If he was then it would have obviously had to be in secret. The Yondaime was also known as the Yellow Flash in many nations for his use of the Hiraishin. He had many enemies and his family would have been in danger if other nations had learned of them."

"Do you know who his mother is?"

"Yes. I think I do know." Teuchi thought for a second, deciding whether or not to tell Ayame. "His mother was Uzumaki Kushina. She was the previous container for the Kyuubi, chosen because of her Uzumaki heritage. I don't know much about their bloodline, but something in it allowed their people to be able to withstand the sealing of the Kyuubi much better than most. Their prowess with fuuinjutsu also made it much easier for the container to stay in control as a shoddy seal can sometimes be corrupted."

"Wow… But wait, his birthday's on October 10th, isn't it? That was when the Kyuubi was sealed, so does that mean the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him the day he was born?"

"Hai. No one is sure why, but many think that the stress of giving birth to Naruto caused the Kyuubi to be released. There is not enough information to truly find know what had happened that night and Uzumaki Kushina died shortly afterwards."

"Are you ever going to tell Naruto about this?" she asked.

Teuchi hesitated. "Hai. I just can't tell him when he's too young to truly understand what it means. I promise you though, I will tell him one day."

"You don't mean when he's already an adult, do you?"

He shook his head. "No. I understand that by then it would be far too late. I plan to tell him when he's already in the academy so that he will be old enough to grasp the implications of what it means to be a Jinchuuriki."

"What do you mean by that?"

He smiled at her sadly. "The life of a Jinchuuriki is not a pleasant one, Ayame. Even by shinobi standards, being a Jinchuuriki is being condemned to a life of harshness a brutality. From the moment they become a Jinchuuriki, they are treated as shinobi by their village, no matter how old they are. The only reason that Naruto has not had the same happen to him is because of complications that happen during the sealing and the fact that there may be traitors in this village that will seek to use him for their own means," he said, thinking of Orochimaru. No one had really found out if he had been working with anyone within the village to conduct his experiments, but the Sandaime was not willing to risk it.

"I was chosen by the Sandaime to raise Naruto for certain reasons that I will reveal when Naruto is old enough. Until then, please do not let him know that you know any of this. There could be disastrous consequences if word reaches the wrong ears."

"Hai, Tou-san." She paused for a moment. "I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Do you… Do you truly love Naruto? Or is it just because the Sandaime chose you to take care of him?"

A fierce light came into his eyes at the words. "Never… Never assume that I do not love Naruto with every fiber of my being," he said, nearly choking with the emotions that were coursing through him. "The Sandaime chose me to take care of Naruto _because_ I would love him." He shook his head. "I would give my own life for him if it meant that he would not have to face another hardship again, but that is simply not possible. The most that I can do is prepare him so that he will be ready."

"Thank you, Tou-san."

He pulled her into a tight hug. "You're welcome, Ayame. Trust me, I'll tell both of you everything when the time is right."

* * *

Naruto seemed so relaxed when he was asleep. He was still lying in his bed, snoring softly. Whenever he was awake, he was always animated, ready to be on the move. It was a rare moment whenever Ayame was able to catch him looking so peaceful.

She had left her father's room shortly after their conversation had ended and was now standing beside the bed where Naruto was sleeping. She delicately touched his small face and smiled sorrowfully at him. He would have hard times ahead of him, but at least he would have his nee-san and his tou-san. And Momo. Couldn't forget about that little ball of fur that had taken to following them around everywhere and was sleeping next to him that very moment.

"I'll be the best nee-san ever," she whispered in reminiscence.

Naruto stirred softly and she smiled again.

As she made her way to her own bed, she thought to herself, _No matter what happens, I'll always be there for him._

* * *

 **So what do you guys think?**

 **Naruto's training has kicked off and he's pretty good at it. Not too much of a surprise there but it means he's going to be able to use chakra before entering the Academy. Just a few more chapters before make it into the main plot.**

 **Anyways, have any of you predicted what will happen soon? There have been a few clues already but I don't think it's that obvious yet.**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**


	5. On the Way

**The reason that I hadn't updated sooner was because I was feeling a bit off these past few days. It's gotten a little better but this still took me a while to get down.**

 **Thank you all for your reviews! I enjoy reading them and they give me motivation to keep writing when I'd rather go to sleep lol**

 **Crystal M. Key: Yes, Naruto will have an effect on the Uchiha Massacre, but it probably isn't what you think it is. If you guys have any guesses, post them in the reviews so I can see them :)**

 **Thanks to Hibuki for reading over this chapter for me again!**

* * *

"The founders of this village…"

Naruto was bored. Extremely bored. He was sitting in the back of the classroom listening as the instructor, Domen Nakazo, droned on and on about the history of the village and blah blah blah. He had been excited about attending the academy a month ago when his tou-san told him about it, but it was just a big pain now that he realized that his love of learning had put him far ahead of the other children in the classroom.

Most of them didn't even want to become ninja and were just there for the civilian part which did not give him much common ground to talk about. Though Naruto's tou-san was a ramen chef, he was knowledgeable about other matters, and that had passed on to Naruto. The other children that _were_ planning to become ninja or were from ninja family usually stuck together which meant that Naruto didn't mingle with them too much. They were still too young to know much about being shinobi anyway.

None of the other children were very intelligent, and he finally understood what his tou-san was talking about when he said he was more mature than others his age. Even the instructor looked bored out of his mind, the tone of his voice reminding Naruto of the bubbling of the soup when cooking ramen, but not nearly as appealing.

He eventually took out his own book on chakra theory and began reading it. He was still researching about chakra and how it differed from Genjitsu so it was something to keep him occupied.

"Naruto, could you please tell me who the first Hokage was?" asked the instructor when he realized that Naruto wasn't paying attention.

"Hashirama Senju, Domen-sensei," answered Naruto, barely glancing up at the question.

"And who was his brother?"

"Tobirama Senju, who also became the second Hokage."

The instructor looked at him for a few moments before continuing his lecture. He figured that as long as Naruto knew what he was teaching then it wouldn't be too big of a deal for him to not be listening.

When class finally ended, Naruto stretched and groaned out, "Freedom!"

Cries of joy were also heard from many of the other children as they rushed out of the classroom.

Naruto walked at a more sedated pace, content to be at the back.

"Naruto, could you stay back for a moment, please?"

Naruto looked over at the instructor.

"Hai, Domen-sensei."

As they waited for the rest of the class to leave, Naruto waited patiently for the man to talk.

"You seem bored in my class, Naruto."

"I know most of the material so I'm not really learning anything," he replied.

"And where have you learned this material?" asked the instructor curiously.

"I borrow books from the library and read in my free time."

"I see." He paused for a moment. "Tell me Naruto, why are you still in this class?"

"Sensei?" asked Naruto, surprised at the question.

"You do know that there is a test you can take to skip years, right?"

A solid smack was heard as Naruto's palm met his face with a considerable amount of force.

"You mean I've been sitting here this whole time for no reason?" he finally asked, exasperated.

The instructor laughed loudly. "I wouldn't say for nothing. You seem to have making excellent use of your time by watching the grass grow outside the windows."

Naruto grimaced. "Where is this test and when can I take it?"

"You'll have to get permission from either a parent or a guardian. After that, we can schedule a time after class where you can take the test with an instructor."

"Thank you, Domen-sensei."

"No problem, Naruto. You seemed almost as bored as I was."

Naruto shot him a smile before he left.

* * *

"I'm back!" Naruto had come back to the stand after class was over.

"Hi, Naruto-kun!" said Ayame from behind the counter.

It was pretty busy now that it was lunch time. Naruto went to the back and began washing some of the dishes that had piled up. It was out of view of the customers so he was able to work on his Genjitsu again, although washing the dishes wasn't doing much for him in that regard anymore. Once he was able to get the control down, everything else seemed easy. It all seemed to boil down to concentration rather than any source of power so there wasn't any issue of him getting exhausted.

For now, he simply worked out being able to clean and dry as many dishes at once as possible. His power seemed to work with his knowledge of where things were, so as long as he could imagine all of the dishes he could pretty much do whatever with them. The problem he used to have was that he would imagine all ramen residue and try to get rid of that. Now, he realized that he could just revert the dishes back to what they looked like when there wasn't any ramen in there which made the task much easier.

"How was your day?" asked Ayame once the lunch hour ended and Naruto was sitting in one of the chairs at the front.

"It was boring again," he grumbled. "That reminds me, too! Hey, Tou-san!"

"What is it, Naruto-kun?" said Teuchi as he poked his head from the back.

"Domen-sensei said that there was a test I could take so I could skip the year that I'm in at the academy. I just need your permission."

"So you found out about that, did you?"

"You mean you already knew?"

"Hai."

"Why didn't you tell me about it?" Naruto was a bit peeved that his tou-san had let him sit through an entire month of information that he already knew.

"I wanted to see if you would make some friends in the class. You never seem to have any friends and you're always focused on training. It's not healthy, Naruto-kun."

"But other kids are so boring to talk to!"

Teuchi sighed. "Alright. You can take the test so that you can be put into the shinobi classes. At least promise me that you'll make an effort to make friends?"

"Fine," grumbled Naruto. "I'll make a few.

"It's okay, tou-san!" said Ayame with a cheerful grin, mussing up his hair. "I'm his friend."

Naruto quickly retaliated and their heads were soon doing impressions of a bird's nest.

"Alright. Cut it out, you two, before you knock something over."

"Hai, tou-san," they chirped.

"Well, I'm off to go get some training done," said Naruto as he headed out.

"Be back soon!" called out Ayame.

"I will!"

Naruto whistled to himself as he walked down the street. He was headed to the Forest of Death again. That was slowly becoming his favorite place to train as there were many things there that he could use to practice his powers on.

As usual, Momo followed him on the way there. Most of the time, she simply sat on a nearby tree and watched him as he tried out new things and occasionally he would have to save her from the random animals that would try to eat them.

Today, he wanted to try something new. He had realized that Momo's front left leg that he had created didn't grow along with Momo, not that he had expected it to, but he knew that he would have to give her a new one since it was a bit small for her now. Though she wasn't a large cat, she was about average, it still made her walk with an awkward gait at times.

As they reached the gates that sealed off Training Ground 44, he picked up Momo and jumped to the other side. The first few times he had taken someone along with him when jumping, they had thrown up. He had worked on it so that it became much smoother and by now it was silent as well. He found out that if he created a Henge or a Shadow Clone in place of where he had been, it would seem as if he hadn't gone anywhere at all.

He made his way into the forest until he found a tree that was some ways in and had a large branch that he could sit on. As he set her down in front of him, she cocked her head as she stared at him. He picked up her front right leg and weighed out about how much it weighed. He then took the other leg and concentrated for a second. The false leg quickly grew out until it mirrored her real leg along with the retractable claws. He wasn't sure why it worked, but he wasn't going to question it.

Momo meowed when it was finished. She walked around to test the new leg out and then began rubbing up against his leg. Naruto laughed and petted her on the head before picking her up and going further into the woods.

He figured he could work on meditating to get some more control over his chakra today. Early on in his training, he had realized that he had massive amounts of chakra compared to most other people and that made controlling much more difficult that it should have been. The best way he found to get better at it was meditating and he was always leagues better at chakra control than when he had first started out. Genjutsu would be something that he would probably never be good at, but had his Genjitsu and that was better in his opinion. As long as he could get out of a Genjutsu then it was fine with him.

As he found a decent sized clearing, he set down Momo and began stretching. He would start off with taijutsu today. His endurance was something unnatural, but he still needed to work on his base strength. Although he was able to augment his attacks with chakra, he'd rather not have to do that every time he wanted to punch someone.

* * *

Naruto only trained for a few hours today as he had promised his tou-san that he would try to make friends. He guessed that the playground was most likely where most children were at this time of the day so he headed over there. Momo hopped onto his left shoulder when she realized he was leaving.

When he got there, he hung his head in defeat. This was going to be a fruitless effort. The sun was already starting to set and there were only a few kids left. He shuddered in disgust as he watched one of them flick a booger at another one. They both laughed when it missed.

 _Hopefully they're not all like that…_ he thought to himself.

He wandered around a bit, not really trying to talk to any of them, but at least wanting to say that he made an effort, small as it was.

About 15 minutes into his foray, he heard some crying from somewhere around the trees and jeering voices as well.

 _Oh come on. What are the chances?_

As he made his way around, he saw a group of boys laughing at a small girl that had fallen to the ground.

"Hey, guys. Knock it off," he called out, hoping that that would be the end of it. Ayame's love for all things small and cute had rubbed off on him and the little girl on the ground tugged at his heartstrings.

"Oh, yeah? Why don't you make us, cat boy?" one of them sneered and pointed at Momo who was still on his shoulder. She hissed. The others laughed.

He made his way over to the girl and held out his hand. "C'mon. Let's go."

She looked up at him with orbs of lavender. There were no pupils.

 _A Hyuuga. And these other kids just look like civilians. How are they not dead?_

She sniffled and reached up before her eyes widened in alarm.

"Watch out!" she squeaked.

Naruto had already sensed that one of them was going to push him so he simply sidestepped it, grabbing the boys arm in the process. He gently tossed the boy to the ground using his own momentum against him. Naruto didn't really want to hurt any of them, though they probably deserved it.

The boy got up to his feet angrily.

"Who do you think you are?" he asked with a glare.

"Naruto. Now go away before I sic my cat on you."

Momo vaulted herself at the boy, hissing as she went.

The boy scrambled back with a yelp before running away, his group following behind him.

Naruto turned back around to face the girl and helped pull her to her feet.

"Are you alright?"

"Hai…" she whispered, poking her fingers together, head tilted downwards. "Thank you for-"

"Hinata-sama!"

They both turned towards the voice. An adult Hyuuga was running over to them. He was probably her attendee, judging by the sama at the end of her name.

"Hinata-sama! What are you doing here? You need to get back to the compound!"

"I'm sorry…"

He had reached them by that time and he shot Naruto a disgusted look. Naruto had just finished training so he could understand that he didn't look his best, but that look was unwarranted. Momo seemed to take offense as well and barred her teeth.

"Come, Hinata-sama. You must not mingle with the common folk." He grabbed her hand before walking off with her.

"Hai…"

Naruto stood there, bemused as the man pulled her along effortlessly.

She glanced back as if to say, "sorry" as she left.

Naruto looked down at Momo. "Does that count as making a friend?"

She meowed in confirmation. At least, he thought it was in confirmation. His tou-san was right. He needed some people friends if he was already beginning to understand cats.

* * *

The next day, Naruto finally had something to look forwards to after class. He had gotten permission from his tou-san written on a piece of paper and luckily they had an extra instructor that could administer the test that very day.

When Domen-sensei called for the end of class, Naruto stayed behind.

"Please follow me, Naruto," said Domen-sensei.

He led Naruto into an empty classroom with a young looking instructor with silver hair inside.

"I cannot proctor the test as I am your current teacher. This is Mizuki-san. He will be here while you take it."

"Hai," said Naruto with a nod.

Mizuki sat up as he explained the rules.

"You have one hour to complete the test. You may not leave the room once you start and you must score above a 69%. Any questions?"

Naruto shook his head. Mizuki handed him the test papers and a pencil before sitting back behind his desk.

"I'll see you after the test, Naruto," said Domen-sensei before he closed the door behind him.

"Are you ready?" asked Mizuki.

"Hai."

"Alright then." He set up a timer. "You may begin."

Naruto glanced through the test. There were only five sheets of paper and the questions seemed to be pretty simple. It was basically a common knowledge test with questions such as, "What is the most common tree in Konoha?"

He was able to finish it in about 20 minutes.

"I'm finished."

Mizuki woke up from his nap.

"Bring it up here," he said blearily.

Naruto handed him the papers and sat back down to wait for the grading.

It only took a few minutes before Mizuki called out, "You pass. You scored a one hundred percent. Congratulations."

"Thank you. Is there anything else I need to do?"

"No. You're free to go," he said as he began packing up his papers as well.

Naruto walked out the door to find Domen-sensei sitting on a nearby bench, waiting for him. He stood up when Naruto walked out.

"How'd you do?"

"I made a perfect score," he replied with a grin. "It was a lot easier than I thought it would be."

"Well, you do read a lot and that test was meant for kids that didn't really know much. Anyway, that classroom is actually where you'll be taking your classes from now on."

"Is that where they teach classes for ninja?"

"Hai. Mizuki-san is actually a chuunin instructor himself."

Naruto nodded to himself.

"Thank you for helping me out."

"No problem, Naruto. Good luck."

* * *

"I'm back!" he called out as he entered Ichiraku Ramen.

"Hi, Naruto! How'd you do on the test?" asked Ayame.

"I scored a hundred. It was pretty easy."

"Good job, Naruto!" said Teuchi.

"I wouldn't have expected less from my otouto," grinned Ayame.

"How about a large bowl of your favorite ramen to celebrate?" asked Teuchi.

"Yeah!" His tou-san didn't always let him have his favorite since it wasn't too healthy. He usually ate healthier ones with vegetables and all that. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't his favorite.

"Extra-large miso ramen with extra chashu, coming up!"

As Naruto ate, Ayame sat down next to him.

"So you're going to have ninja classes now? That's pretty impressive. Usually only the clan members get to take those classes this early."

"I think that's because most of the other kids are idiots," Naruto replied with a cheeky grin.

She smacked the back of his head. "I didn't take those classes either, Naruto!"

"Ow!" he said as he rubbed his head. She smacked pretty hard. "But you didn't want to take them in the first place, so that's different."

"You still called me an idiot," she fumed.

"I'm sorry, Ayame-nee!"

"Apology not accepted."

"Nee-chan!"

"Nope."

Naruto turned on his puppy dog eyes. They were especially effective with the green and blue shining next to each other.

Ayame faltered for a second before she said again, "Nope."

Naruto intensified the eyes, adding fake tears.

Ayame struggled with herself internally for a moment before she gave in.

"Ahh!" yelled Naruto as she grabbed him and began rubbing her face up against his vigorously.

"I can't resist it!"

"Get off me!" he squawked as he started flailing desperately.

Teuchi laughed uproariously in the background.

"That's what you get for using those eyes on me, Naruto," she said sternly after she stopped a minute later.

Naruto glared at her as he rubbed his sore cheek.

"Now eat your ramen before it gets cold."

"Hai, Nee-chan," he grumbled.

Teuchi finished cleaning in the back and sat down with them.

"By the way, you two. I have something I need to tell you tonight."

Naruto looked up from his ramen while Ayame stiffened.

"What is it, Tou-san?" asked Naruto.

"It's something that you need to know and I promised myself I'd tell you whenever you started becoming a ninja. You already started training so early so I decided to wait until you started your classes for becoming a ninja."

"Alright."

* * *

"What did you want to tell us?" asked Naruto. All three of them were in his tou-san's room. His tou-san was sitting on the bed while they had pulled up chairs. They had closed the stand earlier than usual today.

"There's something that you need to know, Naruto," Teuchi started off. "I already told Ayame a few years ago and told her not to tell you until I decided the time was right."

"You aren't talking about me being adopted it is?" interjected Naruto. "Because if it's that, then I already figured it out a _long_ time ago."

Teuchi chuckled nervously. "No. If it was that then I wouldn't be nearly as worried as I am now."

"What are you talking about?"

"Try not to get upset, okay? What I'm about to tell you is something that very few people know about and the knowledge is extremely dangerous."

Naruto sat up straighter.

"I can't promise that I won't be upset since I have no idea what you're about to tell, but I promise that I'll try not to get too upset. I'm guessing that this is mostly about me? Since you already told Ayame. She is older than me, but I get the feeling that this is something I don't know about myself."

His tou-san nodded.

"This is something that includes some history that has been going on for a long time. It's about the Kyuubi."

"The one that the Yondaime Hokage defeated six years ago?"

"Hai. What most people believe is that the Yondaime killed the Kyuubi. He didn't."

"What happened to it?"

Teuchi paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "The thing about the Kyuubi, or tailed beasts in general, is that they cannot be killed. They can be contained or put to sleep, but they do not actually have a physical body that can be killed."

"What do you mean?"

"Tailed beasts are essentially masses of chakra given physical form. What happened that night was that the Yondaime Hokage sealed the Kyuubi away. He gave his life to do so."

"What did he seal it into?"

"Who, not what. Tailed beasts cannot be sealed inside of normal objects since they would just break free. No. They need a living container to hold them. The problem with that is that most people are not suitable candidates to become containers for tailed beasts. There are a few requirements that the host must meet just to survive the sealing.

"They must first be young, a small child whose chakra coils haven't developed yet. That way, when the tailed beast is forced into that person, don't get killed by the damage that it causes. Another is that they must be healthy and able to recover from the damages that are caused by it. The reason for that is because those that become Jinchuuriki, which is what containers are called, can still be of use for their village.

"When a person becomes a Jinchuuriki, there is a possibility of them being able to use their tailed beast's chakra, greatly enhancing their combat prowess. In some cases, they even work together if their relationship has reached that point."

Naruto sighed. "I'm the container for the Kyuubi, aren't I?"

Teuchi nodded. "Hai."

"And the Yondaime sealed it into me because I'm his son, right?"

Ayame jumped in at this point. "Wait, what? How did you know?"

Teuchi glanced at her before looking back at him. "I'm also confused. How did you figure that out?"

"It wasn't that hard, to be honest. We both look the same in a lot of ways that there hasn't been anyone else in the village that has blond hair that I've seen. I wasn't one hundred percent sure about it until you confirmed it for me either."

Teuchi looked at Ayame sheepishly.

"Well, it's not a big deal since I was planning on telling you anyway, but you don't seem too surprised by any of this."

Naruto sighed. "Once you explained that tailed beasts can't be killed and had to be sealed into a person, everything else fell in place. It was obviously something about me and I had already found out the Yondaime was my father. And my birthday is on October 10th. It's a dead giveaway."

Teuchi let out a breath of relief. "For some reason, I thought you'd be much more emotional about this than you are right now."

"The Kyuubi's not going to take over and control me, is it?"

Teuchi shook his head in negative.

"Then there's not much to be worried about. I've already had a lot of time to think about this. I found out that he was my father about a year ago when I was reading in the library and I was able to come to terms with it. And he couldn't seal the Kyuubi into anyone else, I was the only choice he really had." Naruto stopped for a moment. "One thing though, do you know who my mother was? I don't recall reading about the Yondaime being married and he didn't seem like the type of person that would hook up with random civilians."

Teuchi laughed. "No, I'm pretty sure that your father was married, but it wasn't made public knowledge in order to protect his wife."

Naruto nodded. "That's understandable. He did have a lot of enemies after the war and putting the spotlight on his family wouldn't have been the best idea."

"Hai. Your mother was Uzumaki Kushina. She and your father grew close during their childhood and that bond only deepened when they grew older. I don't know too much about her, but if you want, you could ask the Sandaime about it."

"One last thing," said Naruto. "How do you know so much about this?"

Teuchi leaned backwards and exhaled slowly.

"This was a long time ago. For me, at least. Not many people know this, but I was once teammates with the Yondaime Hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened, but he stayed silent. Ayame gasped quietly.

"Hai. We were placed on the same genin team along with Takeshi Yumiko. The three of us were a great team." He smiled to himself wistfully. "We went our separate ways soon after we became chuunin. I eventually ended up in the ANBU while your father studied under Jiraiya-sensei. Yumiko… She died during a mission."

He took a deep breath before continuing.

"I eventually met the love of my life, Akita Mitsuko. She was just a civilian fruit stand worker, but she was the most wonderful woman that I had ever met. I quit the ANBU shortly after I had met her, and I already had enough money by that time to where we could start our lives together." His eyes watered as he thought back to the past. "We were happy together. She decided that she wanted a child to share that happiness with and so she got pregnant. She was ecstatic about it since she was an orphan and never had parents before. It was the same for me."

He sat back up. "She died giving birth to Ayame." His eyes closed for a moment before he opened them again. "I took care of Ayame by myself and opened a ramen stand soon after. Mitsuko always loved to eat ramen and I needed a way to make support myself and Ayame.

"The only person that I was close to after that was Minato, but he was busy himself. He had become the Hokage and it just didn't feel right to bother him since I wasn't even a shinobi anymore. When he died, I was devastated. I remember wishing that I had spoken to him one last time before he had passed.

"And then I received summons from the Sandaime. I thought that he was calling me to become a shinobi again and I told him that I couldn't. I had Ayame that I needed to take care of. But that wasn't what he had called me for." Teuchi locked eyes with Naruto. Eyes that had tears spilling out of them. "He told me that Minato had a son named Naruto. A son that only I could take care of. A son that needed someone to raise to be ready for the life that he had in front of him."

"Tou-san…" Naruto whispered.

"Having a tailed beast inside of you is a great burden, Naruto, one that I know you can face. You need to know this. The Sandaime was worried that there were people that would seek to use you for their own gains so he had me watch over you. I have done my best, and will still do my best in the years to come, to prepare you for what you have ahead. You already know so much and have taught yourself so well. Know that I am proud of you, Naruto. Even if I am not your real father, you are still my son. I love you."

"I love you too, Tou-san."

Teuchi smiled tiredly. "You should go get some sleep now, Naruto. Tomorrow's your first day of class for becoming a ninja."

"Hai, Tou-san," said Naruto as he got up with Ayame.

"There's something I'm relieved about, though," said Naruto from the doorway.

"What is it?" asked Teuchi.

"I'm glad that you didn't name me after a ramen topping."

Teuchi laughed.

* * *

 **Alrighty! Naruto's going to be learning how to be a ninja now! It didn't really explain in canon how one be able to take the classes to learn how to do ninja stuff, but it couldn't be open to all civilians in my opinion. I came up with the idea of a simple test. The explanation for how Naruto made it in in canon would be that he's the Jinchuuriki which would mean that he would pretty much have to become a shinobi anyway so the Sandaime just dumped him in.**

 **And Hinata has now met Naruto. I have plans for her in the future, but nothing set in stone yet :)**

 **That last part was pretty hard to write. I tried to keep it from becoming emotional but that's just how it ended up.**

 **I found out about the line tool, by the way. I replaced all of the "XXXXX" with just lines. If you guys prefers the X's then let me know and I'll change them back.**

 **It's 5 in the morning and I'll probably post this in the morning after I've done some editing, but I have to get up early again and I'm dead tired so I'm out.**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**


	6. Hitting it off

**Hey guys. It took me a while to start writing this chapter since it felt a bit weird for some reason. I kept trying to introduce people from the Konoha Eleven before I realized that Naruto wouldn't logically know them all until later on.**

 **Once again, thanks for all the reviews, guys!**

 **I'm going to start responding to a few that I want to respond to so here's the reviews response section:**

* * *

 **RRS**

 **Ryder93: I honestly hadn't thought of this as being an original story since I just had this idea festering for a while before I put it down. Now that I think about it, I've never read something that with this idea before, either. I'm glad you like it!**

 **TheBeauty: Momo will play a role in the story. However, I hadn't originally intended for her to. She wasn't even originally a female to be honest. The only reason that she's still here is because a friend (who may be known as "Burrito") convinced me to keep Momo and now I'm glad for that. There's quite a few things that I plan on doing with Momo so keep an eye out!**

 **dpdj1: I honestly don't know what pairings I'll do yet. Hinata seems like a prime candidate but I'll probably put it up to a poll when it comes to it. I have someone else that I've always wanted to pair Naruto up with but never see it in fanfictions. If Hinata does't work out then it'll definitely go to her.**

 **Crystal M. Key: I shamefully admit that I hadn't even noticed it was like Peter's hand, either. Maybe it was my sub-conscience telling me to do it?**

* * *

 **Enjoy! :)**

* * *

"We have a new student today, class," said Iruka, a tanned chuunin instructor with a scar across his face, motioned towards Naruto to introduce himself. Mizuku stood off to the side with a disinterested gaze.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto." He and his tou-san had a conversation about what his last name would be that morning, and they decided on his mother's name. At first, Naruto wanted to take Ichiraku as his last name, but Teuchi refused, saying that he was still his father's son. The reason they didn't go with Namikaze was because the Yondaime was the only one with that last name it would have instantly put him in the spotlight. The Uzumaki clan weren't geographically isolated anymore due to the war and there were some Uzumaki that didn't have red hair anymore so it wasn't an impossibility for an orphan to have DNA from one.

All of the other kids stared at him. It was probably because Momo had decided today was the one day she would accompany him to classes and was sitting on his shoulder. Then again, there was a boy with weird face paint and a dog perched on his head sitting near the front so it probably wasn't something too abnormal. He figured that he was an Inuzuka since they were the only clan that had face paint like that and had ninken. Maybe he should look into making Momo a ninneko? Maybe not. Momo didn't have any special attributes and was just a normal alley cat, albeit with an abnormal leg.

"Alright, you may sit down."

Naruto headed towards an empty seat which, again, was in the back. Most of the kids here were from ninja clans which meant that most of them already had a head start in their training. However, Naruto hadn't been slacking either, and he was confident that he would be able to keep up with them. The only thing that Naruto didn't have were clan techniques, but his Genjitsu more than made up for that from what he'd seen and read about the clans of Konoha.

The fact that his tou-san had secretly been in the ANBU probably helped out as well. The ANBU were the elite of the elite, and even if his tou-san hadn't been one in over a decade, the knowledge was still there.

Surprisingly, the Hyuuga from the other day was there as well. He assumed that she wouldn't be allowed to "mingle with the common folk." When she saw him walking towards her, she gave a small, "Eep!" and ducked her head. He wasn't sure why. None of the seats near her were open so he obviously wasn't going to plop himself down in her lap. It did paint an amusing picture, though.

Iruka-sensei lectured for a while about chakra and how it was used in different techniques. It was similar to what Naruto himself had been studying other than the fact that he was had already passed most of the basic theory and was on to actually experimenting with it.

About an hour into it, he stopped and announced taijutsu sparring for the day.

"We will begin taijutsu sparring," said Iruka from the front. "Everyone line up; we're heading outside to the grounds."

Naruto headed out with the others as they made their way to what served as a playground for most of the civilian kids but doubled as a sparring ground for the ninja ones.

"Those who already know taijutsu, you may group up with people to spar with. Those who do not know taijutsu, please come to me or Mizuki-sensei to ask for instruction. Tomorrow, we will hold one on one spars. You may begin."

Naruto had already created his own personal style of taijutsu with the help of his tou-san and his own Shadow Clones. He wasn't too interested in learning the academy style that included elements from many different fighting styles and was mostly for people that were average in physical capabilities. It also had many holes that were easily exploitable which was probably why most people only used the academy style to form a strong basis in order to learn other styles.

"Hey, you, cat boy," called out the Inuzuka from earlier as he walked towards him. "You know how to fight?"

Naruto nodded.

"Let's spar together. I don't really like cats, but I've never met anyone that's partners with them before," he said, waving his hand towards Momo. Momo herself was glaring at the boy's dog who seemed cowed by her.

Naruto glanced up to look at Momo. "Momo's not a ninneko. She's just an ordinary cat."

She swiped at his head, apparently offended at being called "ordinary."

The boy laughed. "It looks like she doesn't agree with you. The name's Kiba, by the way. And this is Akamaru."

The dog gave a yip.

"Naruto. You already know that though. And this is Momo."

She merely kept her eyes on the dog.

Naruto reached up lightly cuffed her on the head. "Momo, be nice."

She hissed, but relented.

"My cat and your dog can play together while we spar, if you want," said Naruto as he picked up Momo and placed her on the ground.

"Sure," responded Kiba, placing Akamaru on the ground as well.

They found themselves a sizable spot where no one else was sparring and faced each other.

"Do you want to call it or me?" asked Kiba.

"I don't mind," said Naruto, slipping into a loose stance with his right leg back and his hands up.

"Okay, then. Hajime!"

Kiba rushed forward and aimed a punch at Naruto's face. To Naruto, it seemed as if it were in slow motion as he tilted his head to the side and aimed a quick jab at Kiba's stomach. He didn't hit too hard as it was just a spar, but Kiba still doubled up for a second before recovering and launching a barrage of kicks and punches that Naruto either dodged or deflected.

"You're pretty good at this," growled Kiba as he paused for a second.

The moment was quickly gone as Kiba feinted with a punch, and roundhouse kicked at Naruto's left leg which seemed to be open.

The slowness of the punch gave it away that it was just a distraction so Naruto ignored it and raised his left foot as the kick came towards him. Right as it was about to pass, he stomped down on the leg, causing Kiba to stumble for a moment. Naruto chose not to take the opportunity and instead hopped back and waited for Kiba to come at him again.

This time, as Kiba punched forward, Naruto slipped into his guard, turning a half circle, and elbowed him in the solar plexus, causing him to fall to his knees as the breath was knocked out of him. Naruto stood above him with his fist aimed at the back of his head.

"Match," said Naruto as he stepped back.

Akamaru, who was waiting on the side with Momo, yipped and ran up to Kiba, licking him on the face.

"I'm alright, Akamaru," said Kiba as he got back to his feet. He faced Naruto again. "Wow, your-" he winced and gave a cough. "Your taijutsu is really good. Most people my age can't keep up with me. The only other person I know that can beat me is the Uchiha over there," he said as he pointed over to where a boy with a raven black hair was sparring with someone who seemed to be a civilian that was losing the match pretty badly. He had on a blue shirt that was proudly displaying his clan symbol. "I think you might even be able to beat him too."

"Maybe," shrugged Naruto as Momo leapt back onto his shoulder.

"You definitely could!" exclaimed Kiba. "You were faster than- Hey, Hinata!" he broke off and called out as he spotted someone behind him.

Naruto turned around and spotted the Hyuuga peering at them from beside a tree.

"Come join us!" said Kiba as he waved her over.

She slowly walked to them, poking her fingers together as she came.

"I- I don't want to be a bother," she whispered. She squeaked as Kiba slung an arm around shoulder.

"No way, Hinata! This is Naruto, by the way. We just finished sparring. You wanna have a go, too?"

"It- it's okay. I can just watch…" she trailed off.

"Come on, Hinata! You're good at taijutsu!"

"Ano…"

"Don't worry about!" He turned towards Naruto. "You call the match, okay?"

Naruto looked over at Hinata. She gave a hesitant nod.

"Alright!" Kiba cheered.

Akamaru yipped and ran over to where Naruto and Momo were standing.

As they got into position Naruto called out, "Hajime."

Naruto watched closely as they both fought. Their speeds and reaction times were pretty similar, though it seemed that Kiba's attacks had much more force behind them. Hinata seemed hesitant in her stance which was most likely the Juuken of the Hyuuga clan. Her movements were correct, but she seemed to hesitate ever so slightly every time she went for something, as if not sure that she was doing it right. Her movements were also stiff whenever she attacked. Even though she was going through the right motions, they didn't seem to flow as they were supposed to.

Kiba took full advantage of this and broke through her guard soon after their first exchange and managed to land a solid punch on her chest. She faltered marginally at that but kept going. Kiba seemed more sure of his movements and put full effort into every punch and kick, though some of them were blocked or dodged by Hinata.

Finally, he managed to kick her in the side which gave him the opening tackle her to the ground with him in striking position.

"Match. Winner: Kiba."

"That was good, Hinata," said Kiba. "You just need to be more aggressive."

He reached out a hand to help her back to her feet.

"Hai…" she grimaced as she got back to her feet.

"Let's take a break for a while," said Kiba as he moved towards the tree that Hinata had been next to. "It's kind of hot out here so we can stay in the shade."

Most of the other groups were winding down as well while those that were with the instructors were still practicing their stances.

"Yeah, let's take a break," agreed Naruto.

All three of them sat down in a patch where the sun wasn't shining and relaxed. Well, Naruto and Kiba relaxed while Hinata poked her fingers together nervously.

"So, Naruto, how'd you end up in this class?"

"I was originally in the basics class for civilians and tested out of it. I wanted to become a ninja and my score was high enough on the test so they moved me here," responded Naruto.

"Why do you want to be a ninja? Me and Hinata want to be ninja 'cuz we're from ninja clans, but you're a civilian, aren't you?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment. Other than the obvious answer of him being a Jinchuuriki, why _did_ he want to become a ninja? He supposed it mostly boiled down to the fact that he couldn't see himself not becoming one. Being a civilian and relying on others to protect was an anathema to him. And with his Genjitsu, why would he stay a civilian? Sure, he could get rich by using it to create things, but there would always be the chance of him getting attacked by other ninja. What good would his wealth do him then?

Ayame's love for protecting little creatures had also affected him in this regard. If he was too weak to protect the little fluffies that she brought in every now and then, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. That was a big reason why he was focusing so much on chakra control: most medical techniques required precise control that he wasn't able to accomplish right now, but later down the road he would be able to. It was a side benefit that his combat prowess also benefitted from it. Right now, he was trying to model himself after Tsunade of the Sannin who was a legendary medic and combatant.

No, staying a civilian wasn't even an option. He could become a samurai but they seemed to _limited_ based on the knowledge that he had of them. They could even the playing field somewhat when facing ninja, but that required heavy reliance on their armor and whatnot. It was also quite simple to get past their defenses with a few elemental jutsu which made the whole point moot.

Adding on to that, there was a convenient academy where he could learn with the cost already paid for by his tou-san (he had revealed that the Hokage was sending him funds for it, so it wasn't even a burden) and the fact that his tou-san was an ex-shinobi wasn't something to ignore. Becoming a ninja was the only sensible route to take.

Throwing in the fact that he was Jinchuuriki, he would have to become powerful or else he wouldn't survive. There was no point fighting against that, and it fit well with his other plans anyway.

"I want to be strong enough," said Naruto slowly, thinking through his words.

"Strong enough for what?" questioned Kiba.

"Just…" he stopped for a moment. "Just strong enough," he finally said.

"Alrighty, then," said Kiba, looking at him curiously, but eventually deciding not to push it. "Anyway, who's your dad? I've never seen anyone else in the village with the name Uzumaki before."

"My dad is Ichiraku Teuchi."

"You're adopted?" asked Kiba.

"Hai. My parents died in the Kyuubi attack."

"Eh heh." He scratched his head. "Sorry for asking."

"It's not a big deal. I've come to terms with it."

Hinata poked herself into the conversation. "Ano… Isn't Ichiraku the name of the ramen stand?"

Naruto nodded. "Hai. The person who runs it is my tou-san."

"Hinata, you eat ramen?" asked Kiba incredulously. "I didn't know that Hyuugas ate ramen."

"I don't really eat ramen that much," she responded. "I just saw it one time when I was walking with Hideki-san. He was showing me the village, and I thought it the ramen smelled nice so he got me some."

At that moment, the Uchiha from earlier walked up to them.

"Hey, Kiba. Let's spar."

"Nah. I already sparred for today." A smirk crossed his face. "You can spar with Naruto if he wants to, though."

The Uchiha scoffed. "Another civilian? No thanks. I already beat three of them today."

Kiba's grin widened. "Naruto's not just another civilian. He managed to beat me."

A glint appeared in Sasuke's eyes. "Oh, really? I guess I'll have to find out how good you are then."

Before Naruto could respond, Iruka-sensei called out from the front, "Alright kids, class is over for today. Be sure to rest up for tomorrow!"

"I guess not today, then. My name's Sasuke, by the way."

"Naruto. Nice to meet you, Sasuke," said Naruto, eyeing him carefully. Sasuke seemed annoyingly arrogant. He would have to make sure that he didn't end up like that without good reason. After all, it would be embarrassing to lose to someone just because he underestimated them.

Sasuke turned around and left.

"Tch," said Kiba. "The Uchiha's good, but he's always so cocky about it. It's not like I always lose to him either, so I don't know why he thinks he's so much better than me."

Naruto simply shrugged before leaving.

* * *

"I'm back!" called out Naruto as he entered the ramen stand. He sputtered slightly as Momo waved her tail in front of his mouth.

"Hi, Naruto! How was class?" asked Ayame.

It wasn't as busy as it usually was in the stand today so she had time to talk.

"It was good. I honestly thought the kids from the clans would be better than they were."

Teuchi poked his head around the corner. "Well, Naruto. You do have "natural" talent. And I've been showing you some stuff," he said innocently so as not to give anything away to the customers that were there.

Naruto laughed. "I guess you're right. I don't know. I just thought they'd be more impressive. Then again, they are just six years old right now."

"Don't underestimate them, Naruto," warned Teuchi. "Some might not seem like it, but they can be pretty strong. It just depends on the circumstance."

"Hai, tou-san."

"Come on, Naruto, let's get you some food before you go out and train again," said Ayame as she brought out a bowl of ramen.

"Thanks, Ayame-nee."

As Naruto sat down and ate his ramen, he thought for a while. "Hey, tou-san."

"What is it, Naruto?"

"if I can, do you think that I should try to graduate from the academy early?"

"That's a tough question, Naruto. But no, I don't think you should."

"Why?"

"There are a lot of reasons to be honest. I'm sure you've thought of a few of them yourself?"

Naruto nodded. "I just wanted to hear your opinion on it."

"I'll tell you more about it tonight. For now, you should think about it some more, okay?"

"Okay," he said as he finished up the rest of the ramen. "I'm off to go train. I'll see you guys tonight."

"Bye, Naruto-kun!"

* * *

As Naruto made his way to the training grounds, he thought about different ways he could train. Right now, he had his Genjitsu as a backup, but he wanted to have more than just that. He had read back on the history of the Uzumaki and had found out that they were notorious for fuuinjutsu. All he had to do was find somewhere that he could learn about it and he could begin.

What Kiba had said today was worth some considering, he thought to himself as he glanced at Momo who was on his shoulder again. She was extremely attached to him so he might as well think about training her for smaller things since she wasn't able to use chakra. If he got better with his Genjitsu he could also alter her front leg depending on what she needed at the time.

His biggest current ace was his jumping that he was getting better and better at. Although it did take concentration to do it, he was able to jump multiple times at once without getting disorientated. In a battle, it would be devastating as it was even better than his father's Hiraishin in many ways. For one, it didn't require any markers to be placed which made setting up a battlefield much easier. However, there were things that the Hiraishin had in advantage to his jumping.

Apparently his father could use the Hiraishin to mark other people and jump to them even if he didn't know where they were. He had to know where he was going to end up with his jumping or else it wouldn't work. If he could find out how to use the Hiraishin in conjunction with his own techniques, it would be nearly impossible to beat him on an even field.

He would ask his tou-san about it later. Being an ex-ANBU meant that he probably had access to a lot of different shinobi knowledge that might include fuuinjutsu. And even if it didn't, he probably knew someone that could help him out. The library did contain some information on fuuinjutsu, it wasn't what he needed to start learning it.

For now, he would work on what he had. He had held himself back tremendously with his spar against Kiba since he just wanted to see where he was at in comparison to others his age. Learning that Kiba was one of the top taijutsu users his age also gave him confidence that he was well off in that regard. However, age didn't matter when you were up against an opponent. He knew that a lot of his physical capabilities were due to having the Kyuubi sealed inside of him. Even though he wasn't actively using the chakra, it was undoubtedly passively boosting his natural strengths. He also knew that he couldn't afford to get complacent as the missions that Jinchuuriki were sent on were almost always the most dangerous ones as they were often able to accomplish what ordinary shinobi were not.

* * *

"So about graduating early…?" Naruto trailed off. He was in his tou-san's room again and Ayame was already asleep.

"There are a few reasons that graduating early is beneficial," started off Teuchi. "The first and foremost is that having an early start on your career could allow you to go further. However, there are many more reasons why graduating early in not beneficial. Can you tell me a few that you've thought of?"

Naruto nodded.

"The biggest reason I can think of is because graduating early would give me less time to work on developing my techniques before having to rely on them in battle. The counter reasoning to that is that without actual experience, knowing a lot of techniques is pointless."

"Hai. The biggest reason why there are so many prodigies that have graduated early is because there were wars going on during their time as a child. Almost everyone was being graduated early and that made it so that, unless you were skilled enough to survive, you would die on the front lines. They were able to practice their techniques in the heat of battle and could refine them with every death they dodged. Despite that, there were many ninja that could have made great shinobi later on in their lives that were wiped out during that time. Can you guess as to why?"

"Their skills weren't meant for those situations?"

"Correct. Clans such as the Uchiha and the Hyuuga flourished during war times as their techniques worked best in direct battles. Clans such as the Yamanaka, however, were not so fortunate. I assume you already know their clan specialties?"

"Hai. They specialize in mind transfer and mind techniques in general."

Teuchi nodded. "Techniques like that are not meant for front line battle. Rather, they are meant for support and intel gathering. That is the reason why there are so few Yamanakas and so many Uchihas and Hyuugas. Adding on to that line of thought, if you graduate early, then your name automatically becomes known. All prodigies are noted by other villages as people to watch out for and eliminate if they have the chance. Even if they don't know you are a Jinchuuriki, you would have already painted a target on your back. However, there is a reason even more important than that one."

"What is it?"

"Allies."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a reason why I encourage you to make friends despite your efforts to avoid them, Naruto. Though you may be strong on your own, there are times where you may have to depend on others. Konoha is one of the few villages that operates on a four-man squad and we are currently the most powerful village. Although places like Kiri may have superior ninja in when compared one on one, Konoha's teamwork puts it past many other villages. Other places have started emulating this style but they still aren't able to keep up with Konoha's. Can you guess as to why?"

"They don't have the same bonds that we have?"

"Correct. Although they might have the same squads and work with similar formations, they don't have the bonds that Konoha fosters. When it comes down to it, the shinobi on their squads cannot trust each other to have each other's backs. In Konoha, squads are formed early on in the genin years with people that are seen as compatible with each other. Though there are some exceptions to this rule, working this way has made Konoha what it is today.

"If you graduate early, you will not have the same bonds as many others will have. You will be placed with people that are likely older than you and, believe me, it is a much easier task to form friendships with people your age rather than those with age gaps, particularly where you are at now."

Naruto nodded. "I took your advice and made some friends at the academy today."

"That's great!" Teuchi beamed for a moment. He then looked at Naruto seriously. "Remember, though, even though they may become your allies, they are your friends first. Friends are hard to come by in the life of a shinobi, and those that you do find should be treasured."

"Hai. Thank you for talking to be about this, Tou-san."

Teuchi smiled. "No problem Naruto." He reached out and ruffled his hair. "Now go to sleep, it's getting late."

* * *

 **So, Naruto's making a few friends now. I honestly hadn't planned for him to have Kiba as a friend until I wrote it out. I've read so many fanfics that I don't even remember if Kiba originally had a crush on Hinata or not, but I'm gonna go with it.**

 **And yes, Naruto is _far_ ahead of most people physically. It's because of a few factors: one, obviously Naruto has the Kyuubi which gives him advanced healing and stamina, and two, he has, not one, but two, magical cores that dramatically boost his physical fitness levels. How many fat witches/wizards did you see in Harry Potter? Very few. And how many of them worked out? Basically none. If you look into the books, quite a few witches/wizards made it to old age without many problems. Dumbledore himself had practically ended a war and was still kicking at the age of 116. And he was only taken out because of a curse so ****¯\\_(ツ)_/¯**

 **Also, Naruto's "jumping" is not superior to the Hiraishin in every way. He can only jump to locations that he has pictured in his mind which means that the Hiraishin could do things that "jumping" could not. And in a fight where being able to keep track of opponents is a major advantage, Hiraishin would open up a lot of different strategies.**

 **Next chapter will start off with Naruto's spar with Sasuke.**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**


	7. Nevermore

**I've had this partly written for a few days now but I wasn't sure how to continue it. I ended up writing whatever came to mind and here's the end result. I do have a plot planned out, but I just wasn't sure how to write this part.**

 **Also, I'm just going to call Naruto/Harry, Naruto unless I'm referring to them separately since it's too much of a hassle to type both of their names out unless I'm specifically talking about Harry.**

 **Thanks for the reviews, everyone!**

* * *

 **RRS**

 **Hoguie: You're on to something there. I'm not going to give away too much, but there are a few things in your ideas that I'm planning. The only limitation that I have on Naruto/Harry is that he can't do anything unrealistic (this means that it can be overpowered, just not something random that I wanted him to be able to do for no reason.**

 **Ryrder93: Kurama might be making an appearance soon... No promises on anything, but I have planned for their meeting to take place.**

 **Zana20: Naruto will not have any connection to death that has resulted from the Harry Potter world. At least, I haven't planned for it yet. Maybe things will change later on? As for portkeys, I'm not sure. I'm still debating on what powers he should be able to do, but I would have to go deeper into the Harry Potter world if he does get that ability.**

 **Thundramon: I haven't explained a lot of things yet since I'll be doing my best to reveal things as the story progresses. As to what you pointed out, I am planning explain a lot of that soon. As for the Harry Potter world, I don't think there will be too much from there that will affect the Naruto world since Voldemort is gone. There might be some things that pop up later, but I don't have that in mind right now.**

 **TheBeauty: The way that I see it, Kiba has a pack mentality and he hasn't grown up enough to place himself as an alpha above everyone else yet. For most of the people his age, sure, but with newcomers that he knows little to nothing about? He's going to be a bit cautious around them until he figures them out.**

 **Finally An Available Username: I assume that the reason that Hinata pairings are so popular is because that's what happened in canon (and a lot of people didn't like Sakura because of the childhood abuse that she heaped onto Naruto). There are a few reasons why Naruto would to have a relationship later on since there are benefits to having one. On a side note and speaking as a nihilist myself, I'd say I'm pretty fluffy :) Don't worry though, he won't be paired with someone just because I like that pairing (unless I can find a way to make it work) since I wouldn't write something like that and post it for all to see. As to why the Hiraishin may be superior in some cases, Minato was able to place Hiraishin seals onto people which meant that he would be able to jump to them without even knowing where they were (or it would reveal to him where they are. That part was never really explained) which was how he was able to fight against A. Also, thanks for the encouragement!**

 **Mohammad: Yes. I know that feeling completely. And I hate it. I enjoy reading fanfics that I call "pubstomps" because I like to see what would happen if the original issues in canon were made inconsequential because of how strong the character becomes. When people make the character strong and nothing changes, my thought is, "Why make them strong if it's not going to make a difference?" That being said, I have no compunctions about keeping Naruto weak just so the I won't have to come up with original material. I will stick to canon on some things, but Naruto will definitely making some changes.**

 **Crystal: I am still messing around with chakra and magic being similar, but they will definitely not be the same thing. They will be able to work with each other though, and I'm still trying to work out what kinds of things Naruto should be able to do with that.**

 **ThePlotLine: Naruto going to Hogwarts is not something that I think will fit into this story. The way that it's set up pretty much** **detached Harry from his original universe which means that no one knows his name either. Neville Longbottom has been touted as the-boy-who-lived while Harry was merely another casualty in the war.**

* * *

 **It's New Years so I didn't have Hibuki edit for me. I didn't want to bother him, so if there's any mistakes, it's all me.**

 **Without further ado (even though the RRS got a bit bigger than I was expecting) here's the story :)**

* * *

"I look forward to our spar," said Sasuke as Naruto passed him on the way to his seat.

Naruto gave a smile and tilted his head to the side. "Me too, Sasuke."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted in response.

Naruto chuckled inwardly as he sat down. Sasuke was apparently the strongest one in the class. It would be nice to see how beating him would affect his mentality. The brash arrogance in the superiority of Uchiha that he displayed would most definitely be gone.

There wasn't a lecture today, so when everyone was situated, Iruka-sensei called for them to line up at the door. Kiba immediately walked up to Naruto as they walked out to the grounds.

"Hey, Momo. Hey, Naruto. Kick his ass for me, alright?"

Naruto guffawed at the statement. "Subtle, Kiba. Real subtle."

Kiba grinned unabashedly as he let down Akamaru who had been on his head again. "Well, I don't like him. If you lose, just don't lose too badly and it'll be fine."

"I'll see what I can do," replied Naruto with a lazy grin. They were outside now, and were waiting for everyone else to gather around the area the instructors had stopped at.

Momo meowed and jumped off of his shoulder to meet up with Akamaru. His tail wagged until she walked up to him and smacked him on the head. He whimpered, but brightened up as she gave his nose a small lick.

"It looks like Momo's made a friend," commented Naruto.

"And she's wearing the pants in that relationship," smirked Kiba. "Hey, Akamaru. You gotta take charge. You can't let a cat boss you around like that."

Akamaru turned around and yipped before Momo abruptly jumped onto his back and sat there, flattening him out as she began cleaning her paw.

"Doesn't seem like that's going to happen soon," said Naruto before he turned around to face Ikruka-sensei as he announced the beginning of the spars.

"Alright, everyone line up. We'll start off the spars with the winner advancing on to face the other winners. If you are knocked out of the circle or are unable to continue then you lose." He looked down at a sheet up paper. "First up: Yakuta Sotan against Kagawa Taisho. Please step forward."

It seemed as if the civilians were going to be the first ones up before the ones from ninja clans spared. It was probably to keep it even, but if they were going to count Naruto as a civilian then it would be anything but. Good thing that he wasn't the type to torture opponents before winning.

"Hajime," called out Iruka when they had both bowed to each other.

The fight was uninteresting, to say the least. Both of them barely knew any basics for techniques and since they were civilian, they didn't have as much passive chakra to make themselves stronger. The in which they fought was also that of an average non-shinobi's and their hits were similarly weak. Their coils were severely undeveloped compared to a shinobi's and the winner ended up being Taisho as he got in a lucky hit that knocked Sotan out of the circle.

There weren't that many civilians so Naruto was soon called up to spar. He was up against Tojo Tanjiro. As soon as Iruka-sensei called out, "Hajime," he dashed forward and landed a clean palm thrust against his chest. Tanjiro bent over and started coughing as Naruto then hooked his leg around Tanjiro's knees toppled him over. He was unable to catch his balance as he was struggled to breathe.

"Winner: Naruto," said Iruka-sensei with some surprise. Apparently he hadn't been watching yesterday when Kiba had spared against him.

The rest of the matches went on like that until the clan kids were called up.

"Inuzuka Kiba against Akimichi Chouji."

"I'm up," said Kiba as he bounded forward in excitement.

A chubby looking kid walked up to face Kiba.

"Hajime."

Kiba dominated the fight. It wasn't that Chouji wasn't relatively good, it was just that Kiba was too fast for him. As he tried to block Kiba's punches, he would inevitably miss one or two here and there along with a few kicks. Finally, after taking a hard hit to the side, he surrendered.

"Winner: Kiba," said Iruka, raising his hand in Kiba's favor.

"Alright!" he cheered as he skipped back to Naruto's side. "How was that?" he asked smugly.

"That was pretty good, Kiba. Are you that much faster than most of the other kids?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Nah, Chouji's just a bit slow, but he's pretty good. He hits really hard so if you let him get a hit on you, he's probably won. I'm just too fast for him." He thought for a moment. "The Uchiha is really fast too. You might wanna watch out for him if you end up going against him."

Naruto nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

The fights went on and he eventually went up against someone named "Yamanaka Ino" who he defeated without too much effort. He could tell what his tou-san meant by saying the Yamanaka weren't front line fighters if she was any indication. She was much slower than Kiba and, although she was making the right moves, nothing flowed together smoothly. It was as if she were trying to fight using styles that she had memorized inside of a book instead of compensating for what he threw at her. The match ended abruptly when he grabbed her arm during a punch and threw her out of the circle.

The next match was Kiba against Sasuke which he watched carefully. He already knew where Kiba's abilities were at; he wanted to see how they were compared to Sasuke's.

"Hajime," said Iruka-sensei.

Sasuke waited back for Kiba to rush forward as he usually did. They traded blows for a bit, Sasuke managing to block a few of them and dodge most of the rest while a few of his counter attacks slipped through Kiba's reckless guard. He could see why Sasuke usually one most of their bouts now; Kiba's attacks would definitely hurt if they got through, but Sasuke was faster and had much more technique than Kiba's unpredictable street fighting. He still did manage to get hits in because of the randomness, but the results weren't very consistent.

After a minute of fighting, they broke apart to catch their breath. Then they resumed fighting. Kiba was especially vicious in his attacks as he went for whatever openings he could find while Sasuke waited for the perfect opportunity to land something. He got that opening when Kiba once again threw a kick that opened him up and Sasuke leaned backwards, grabbing foot out and punching Kiba in the chest. Kiba was knocked back a few feet and Sasuke immediately capitalized on the advantage. The fight was soon over after that as he managed to knock Kiba off his feet and landed on top of him with his fist raised.

"Winner: Sasuke," announced Iruka-sensei when they stopped.

A few matches later and Naruto was up again. This time his opponent was one by the name of Nara Shikamaru.

"Hajime."

Naruto stopped to analyze the situation. Shikamaru seemed completely relaxed in his posture with his shoulders slumped and his hands in his pockets. What kind of fighting style was that? The Nara were famed for their mental prowess, so he wouldn't have put it past them to find an unorthodox taijutsu form for their children. Had Kiba neglected to mention someone else with taijutsu far surpassing everyone else? He would have to be careful in order to catch any tricks that the Nara would pull off. Their clan usually produced people with intelligence equaling and sometimes even surpassing previous generations.

Shikamaru could be waiting for Naruto to attack first and launch a counterattack that he wouldn't be able to predict. The glazed eyes that seemed to project boredom was probably also a front in order to make him relax his guard. Well, that wouldn't work on him. He'd play it safe.

As he prepared to throw the first hit, the Nara calmly walked out of the circle.

"I surrender," he said drolly.

Naruto sweat dropped. Okay, then. Maybe the Nara wasn't some secret taijutsu master.

Iruka-sensei sighed. "Shikamaru, you're going to have to spar one day."

Shikamaru lazily waved his hand. "Sure, sure…"

Iruka-sensei shook his head in defeat. "Alright. Next match."

And the fights went on.

Hinata ended up going against Sasuke as well, but it ended before Hinata could do much. She seemed cowed by the raven haired Uchiha and didn't react quickly enough to defend when he knocked her out of the circle with a punch.

After nearly half an hour, it was finally time.

"Uzumaki Naruto against Uchiha Sasuke."

As Naruto stepped up, he thought about how he would handle this. Would he demolish the Uchiha or would he hide his abilities as he had been doing earlier? He wouldn't lose of course. His pride in the time and effort he had put into his training wouldn't allow him to do that.

He didn't have any more time to think about it as Iruka-sensei called out, "Hajime."

Sasuke grinned at him with a predatory look in his eye. "Well? Come on. I'm waiting."

Naruto rolled his eyes. Alright then, if he wanted to taunt him, then he would get what he asked for.

Before Sasuke could react, Naruto had dashed forward, ducked down onto his hands, and landed a mule kick to his chest. He didn't put much force into it, but it was enough to send a message. Sasuke stumbled backwards clutching his chest and coughing. His eyes narrowed.

Naruto stood there for a moment, waiting for Sasuke to make a move. He finally did as he ran forward with a fist cocked backwards. He faked a step to Naruto's right and did a half turn to the other side, aiming to hit Naruto with an unexpected left handed back fist.

Naruto stepped backwards slightly and caught the fist as it neared his face. Jumping up and pivoting his legs around Sasuke's arm, he spun and hooked his left leg around the back of Sasuke's head, shoving it down towards the ground as he straightened, landing on his feet. It ended up with Naruto still holding Sasuke's arm between his legs as he stood with Sasuke on the ground, his head between both of Naruto's feet. Sasuke was too stunned to move. With a simple twist, Naruto could have dislocated his left arm.

Iruka-sensei seemed floored. The whole thing had lasted less than twenty seconds. It took him a few moments before he raised his hand in Naruto's favor and said, "Winner: Naruto."

The whole class started to murmur. Sasuke had lost before, of course, but never this quickly and he had definitely never been crushed like this.

Sasuke grimaced as he got to his feet. "That was luck," he said as he shook Naruto's hand, though admiration showed through his eyes just a little.

Kiba was practically jumping up and down as Naruto walked back. "You kicked his ass!"

Hinata ducked her head shyly and said, "Good job, Naruto-kun."

Naruto grinned. "Thanks, guys."

After Iruka-sensei finished writing down notes on clipboard, he called out, "Alright, kids. Class is over for today."

"I'll see you two tomorrow, then?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah! Hana is probably already here to pick me up," responded Kiba.

"Bye, Naruto-kun!" said Hinata. She was already near the front as one of her attendants had waved her over.

"Later, then," said Naruto as he walked off. He would go get some food and go train some more. Watching some of the clan kids fight gave him some ideas that he could try out while sparing against his clones.

* * *

The next day was when they started working on chakra. Most of the civilians had little to no idea what chakra was, while people like Sasuke and Hinata already had a steady grasp of it. Sasuke, because the Uchiha clan did their best to keep up the superiority they held over everyone and began training their children early, and pretty much the same for the Hyuuga clan in Hinata's case. While Sasuke was already in the process of learning how to perform the Goukakyuu no Jutsu, Hinata's knowledge was focused more around taijutsu.

That was why when they began the leaf training exercise, most of the civilians struggled with it while Naruto, along with many other clan children, were able to forgo that and start on actual jutsu.

"Alright, how many of you know what the Bunshin no Jutsu is?" asked Iruka-sensei as he surveyed the kids lined up in front of him. Those that were still working on the leaf training were on the other side of the room with Mizuki-sensei.

A little more than half of the kids there raised their hands. Momo noticed what was going on and raised her hand too. A few of the kids laughed.

"Okay, that's good. For those of you that don't know, the hand seals are tiger, boar, ox, and dog. Go ahead and try it. I'll be walking around and helping those that need assistance."

Naruto was one of the two that managed it on the first try. The other one was Sasuke. It seemed like he wasn't all talk after all.

Kiba nudged Naruto with his shoulder. "Hey, can you help me and Hinata out?"

Naruto looked over. Kiba's attempt wobbled pathetically with an off hue color while Hinata's was just a little better.

"Sure. All you have to do is make sure that you channel your chakra throughout your whole body first so that the clone takes on your form completely. That might take some work, but it should be easy once you can do that."

"Thanks, Naruto," said Kiba as he tried again. This time, the color was a bit better and it seemed more stable than before.

"That's pretty good for your first time," commented Naruto. His first attempts by himself had not gone well until he had learned how to control his chakra better. Though he could do it now, it was still much easier for him to use a shadow clone or an elemental one since they took up more chakra and required less precision.

"Have you done this before, Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata.

"Hai. I've done some training on my own and this was one of the jutsu that I learned."

"So that's how you were so good at taijutsu on the first day!" said Kiba. "Do you know any other jutsu, too?"

"I know a few. They aren't that good, though," lied Naruto. He had perfected nearly all of the D-rank ninjutsu available to him, was fine tuning many of the C-rank ones, and was working on his genjutsu at the moment.

The rest of the day passed without much incident as Iruka-sensei noted down who needed help and who was fine by themselves while the others caught up.

While Kiba and Hinata worked on their Bunshin, Naruto thought about the fuuinjutsu that his tou-san had showed him last night. There wasn't too much that he had had on and at the moment, but there were some basic sealing scrolls for equipment that his tou-san brought out from some of his old belongings, so there was a little bit for him to study on. The only problem with it was that his tou-san hadn't learned much about fuuinjutsu, just enough to pass the ANBU exams since they needed to know a bit in every field while focusing in a few.

Naruto figured that he'd probably have to find some scrolls that taught the basics of it before he could learn anymore since the whole thing was like another language; without knowing what meant what, it was fruitless for him to even try.

* * *

The next couple of months passed in a blur as he spent his free time in class talking to Kiba and Hinata. Hinata seemed to slowly be coming out of her shyness that she had displayed during their first encounter and was doing much better in taijutsu as well. Kiba, not wanting to fall behind, had probably upped his own training since he seemed to have a much better grasp of technique rather than reckless attacking.

This had a few effects, however. A major one was that Sasuke no longer dominated their fights as much, and whenever Kiba won, it wasn't just because of a lucky hit that had gotten through his guard for some reason or another. Sasuke had also dropped a most of his haughtiness around Naruto and even asked for his advice at times, which was most likely why his brother, Itachi Uchiha, knew about him.

"Sasuke has said much about you, Uzumaki-san," said Itachi as he looked down at Naruto. Kiba and Hinata were both at his side while Momo was perched on Naruto's left shoulder.

Itachi had come to pick Sasuke up from the academy that day which was not a normal occurrence; Sasuke usually had an attendee that came to pick him up after class was over. Today, Itachi had come, and Sasuke was standing by his side with barely contained enthusiasm.

"Good things, I hope," replied Naruto with a small bit of unease. Though Itachi didn't seem too old, his presence was of one who had been through much and was weary. He wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't been as perceptive as he was, though. Itachi hid it well. His face had a small smile on it that seemed a little forced, and it seemed that his usual facial expression was one of apathy.

"He's really good at taijutsu and ninjutsu, Nii-san. He's a little better than me, even though he's not even an Uchiha," admitted Sasuke with some reluctance before an eager grin stretched out over his face for being with his nii-san. "I can beat Kiba and Hinata really easy, though."

"I see," commented Itachi. "Well, Sasuke, we'd better go. We wouldn't want to hold up your friends, and I have some free time today, so I think I can help you with training." A faint smile, a genuine one this time, appeared on his face.

"Really?" asked Sasuke with disbelief coloring his words. He thought for a moment and seemed to shove away that disbelief. "Thanks, Nii-san!"

The both of them walked away while Naruto stood there.

"That was weird," noted Kiba once they were out of earshot. "I've never actually seen Uchiha Itachi up close before."

"Yeah," agreed Naruto. "He's a bit famous, isn't he? Graduated the academy and became Chuunin at ten."

"How do you know so much?" asked Kiba? "Never mind, you always know everything. I knew that he graduated early, but I didn't know that he was a Chuunin at ten. I heard that it's really hard to pass the exams since they're in other villages most of the time."

"They are. He seems to be a bit of a prodigy, though, so it shouldn't have been too much of a problem. I heard that he was the top of his class when he graduated, too." Naruto himself knew that with his abilities he could definitely take on his whole class by himself, and his tou-san had once said that if he played it right, he had the skill to take out Jounin as well. The biggest thing that he lacked was experience, his tou-san had reminded him. That only came with missions, but he wasn't planning on taking those until he had graduated the academy along with everyone else.

He had taken his tou-san's word to heart and had decided that he would make connections before he graduated so that he wouldn't have to rely on his battle prowess to keep himself safe. He also understood what his tou-san had meant about making his allies friends, too. He knew that he could count on Kiba and Hinata if he ever needed them, but they were his friends, first and foremost.

"Neji-nii-san talks about him sometimes, too," said Hinata.

"Who's that?" asked Kiba.

"He's about a year above us," explained Naruto. "Apparently his skill with his clan taijutsu is astounding."

"Hai," confirmed Hinata. "He's… a hard person to spar against."

"Well, I'll see you guys later," waved Kiba as he walked away with Akamaru.

"Bye," called out Naruto and Hinata, together.

"I think I'd better head off too," said Naruto as he turned to Hinata. "I have to help out at the ramen stand and then I'm going to go train for a bit."

"H-hai. Bye, Naruto-kun." She looked as if she wanted to say something, but she chose not to. Something didn't feel right about today.

Naruto walked off. That was the last time he would be seen for years.

* * *

"Is there any more information on the subject?" asked the man.

"Hai. Although he was first noticed because of his skill in the academy and the fact that he turned down any offers to advance past the level he was learning at, he still seems to be training on his own. He lives with Ichiraku Teuchi, a ramen stand owner, and his daughter, Ayame. It appears that he was adopted soon after the Kyuubi attack."

 _Interesting,_ thought the man. _And his physical characteristics are similar that of the Yondaime's... If there was anyone that he would have sealed the Kyuubi into, it would have been his son. He made so much effort to hide the fact that Kushina was pregnant, but there is only so much you can hide from what lurks in the dark._

"Is there anyone else that he has connection to?"

"Negative. His father and his sister seem to be his only form of familial connection and their relatives are deceased. The only people that he has been seen spending time with are two children that are in the same class as him. They are Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata. There is also a sort of rivalry between him and Uchiha Sasuke, and Uchiha Itachi seems to have taken an interest in him because of that."

 _He is ripe for the taking... There are few that would miss his absence. Is it worth the risks? Yes, definitely. Hiruzen has grown too soft. I will rebuild the village's strength if he is not willing to. The roots must thrive if the tree is to survive. They may grow stronger after a disaster, but that is only if they are allowed to utilize their resources._

"Take team Omega. Tonight, you will capture him and his family. Separate him from them and put them in different holding areas. Place chakra seals on all of them and take no chances. Burn the house down and place decoy bodies. Dismissed."

"Hai, Danzo-sama."

* * *

Naruto felt something in the air that night as he went to bed. He knew that there were people watching him since he had first sensed it a few weeks ago, but he had assumed that they were just people that the Hokage had assigned to keep watch over him. Today felt abnormally foreboding. He was still awake long past the time that he usually would have been asleep already.

He jumped slightly as Ayame turned in her sleep.

When he heard a small noise from down the hall, he decided to stretch out his senses to see if anything was going on. His eyes widened as he felt presences in his tou-san's room. Throwing off his covers, he rushed down the hall and into the room where the they were at.

He got there as two of the people who wore animal masks were taking his tou-san out through the window and into the night. He would have followed, but he couldn't leave Ayame there by herself.

"What do you want?" he asked, feeling a panicky confusion. He had just gotten there and his tou-san was being carried away by what appeared to be ANBU. That couldn't be right, though, as ANBU were mostly charged with guarding the Hokage and taking high ranking missions that ordinary shinobi were unable to complete. In the eyes of the village, his tou-san was a simple ramen chef.

The other masked man in the room turned to face him. "Uzumaki Naruto. You will come with us."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "And why is that?" he asked, preparing to attack. If he could deal with him, then he could chase after those that had taken his tou-san.

"Because you have no choice," said a voice from the hallway behind him.

Naruto whirled around to see another masked shinobi standing behind an unconscious Ayame with a kunai held to her neck. He was out of options. He was pretty sure that he could take them out, but with his tou-san gone and Ayame in danger, he couldn't take the chance.

"Okay," he said, raising both of his hands to signify that he was complying. "I'll come with you. Please, just leave-"

He was cut off as the other person came up behind him and knocked him out with a strike to the back of the head.

"Mission accomplished," he said emotionlessly.

"Good. Apply the chakra seal and head back to the holding areas."

"Hai."

He left through the window.

The man that stayed behind unsealed three bodies from a scroll. They were all bandits that had been killed in order to serve purposes such as this. One of them was a middle aged man, another was a teenaged girl, and the last was a prepubescent boy.

He placed the bodies where the ones they would replace were at before they had entered. Several areas of the house were lit with matches and the man watched as everything caught.

Without a single glance back, he disappeared in a shunshin.

* * *

 **Muahuahua! Did any of you guys think this would be a lovey dovey, slap happy grandpappy kind of story? Well, guess again!**

 **Actually, I haven't revealed too much yet. The next few chapters will show how this story will evolve. I had to develop Naruto's character since he and Harry were both relatively good-natured people in canon and that doesn't make for much fun when someone is overpowered but refuses to use said powers or even show it off. Some surprising things will be happening later on, and that was what took up a bit of my time these past few days. I now have a nice part of the stuff planned out, but there are still a few things that I'm not sure whether it's going to the left or the right.**

 **Another thing, something happened to my right eye which meant that I wrote the majority of this with one eye, and let me tell you, it is not comfortable. I couldn't tell if what I was writing even made sense so I had to reread everything a few times to make sure every flowed correctly. Things will pick up once I get better. That's also this chapter wasn't as big as I wanted it to be.**

 **If you guys think you know what's going to happen in the next chapter, feel free to guess :)**

 **Happy New Years everyone!**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**


	8. Change is Good

**Hey, guys! Sorry I haven't written in a while. Classes started again, I got a part time job, and there were some other emotional things that had happened as well. To make up for the absence, I made this chapter a bit longer than the rest. I'm hoping that my next chapters will all be around this length, but no promises. I'm still sort of new to the whole "writing" thing, and I'm still learning along the way.**

 **As a general response to what a lot of you might be thinking, yes, I do know that if Naruto had died then the Kyuubi would have been released, and that Danzo wouldn't have been dumb enough to overlook that. It's mostly addressed here.**

 **Thanks to Hibuki for beta reading for me!**

 **Also, I'm going to make the reviews response section limited to three responses so that it doesn't take up too much space.**

 **RRS**

* * *

 **Vampwalker709: Naruto/Harry is a bit complicated at the moment. I'm going to try to reveal more later on, but rest assured that I haven't just thrown that to the side.**

 **NakedFury: On the note of Naruto being able to use the shadow clone, Teuchi was an ex-ANBU, so it would only make sense for him to teach Naruto some of the more chakra intensive techniques that most other people wouldn't be able to use.**

 **I Judicator: I actually don't have any concrete plans for Momo yet, but I'm hoping that she'll play a good part in this. I do have a few ideas in store for her at the moment.**

* * *

"You summoned me, Hokage-sama?" asked Danzo as he stepped through the doorway.

"What have you done with Naruto?!" Hiruzen nearly shouted from his table.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play coy with me, Danzo. I have allowed you free reign much too long. I received reports last night from my ANBU that there were other ANBU they were not familiar with, and in that same area, Naruto's house was burned down. Three of my ANBU were also injured during the fight that had ensued," he stated coldly. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Exactly what you have said," replied Danzo offhandedly.

Hiruzen what surprised for a moment before his eyes narrowed. "Explain."

"It's simple, my old friend. I know, and I am not sure how many others do as well, that Naruto is the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."

He froze. "Where did you learn that?"

"It does not matter. You know as well as I do that secrets, when shinobi are involved, do not remain secrets. The ease in which I was able to kidnap him should be a glaring red light that he was not safe where he was currently at. And if he is not safe, neither is the village." He paused for a moment as he let the thought sink in. "And how hard do you think it would be for an enemy village to send in a team of infiltrators to kidnap a small boy that is only guarded by a few ANBU?"

"His security was his anonymity," retorted Hiruzen. "There are few people in the village, and none outside of it, that know of Naruto's circumstances. It will only be more difficult to recover the situation now that you have cast light on them. They cannot return to normal life now that they have been reported dead by the medics on sight."

"But you do not know that, Hiruzen. I know for a fact that there is at least one other outside of this village that knows of his secret. You cannot keep him safe forever. He is destined to defend this village, and holding him back by hiding him with civilians will not further the cause," Danzo reasoned.

"You are mistaken, Danzo. Naruto was preparing for what he needed to be prepared for. He was receiving training from an ex-ANBU, and it was the perfect cover for him. No ties to shinobi, just an ordinary child that had been orphaned in the Kyuubi attack." Hiruzen sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I hope you have not done anything much worse than kidnapping him, Danzo? There is still a chance to salvage this situation since your contribution to the village has been great, but I'm afraid that there is only so much I can forgive."

"Hiruzen," said Danzo softly. "You know that what I do is for the village, and for the village only. Let me train Naruto, and I promise you that he will be ready for whatever happens." His voice hardened. "It is already apparent that the other villages have been eyeing Konoha ever since word of the Kyuubi attack happened. What would Minato have wanted? For Naruto to live a normal life, or to protect Konoha, as he did himself?"

"Minato would have wanted Naruto to be seen as a hero, but that is an impossibility, if only for the sake of his safety."

"He will be a hero. The village will see him as Minato's son and a powerful shinobi that is ready to protect his village. But for now, he must have the chance to train for the time that he will be needed. That time is bound to be coming soon, and we do not know when. He cannot coddle him and allow him to do as he pleases; we must take control of his training so that he can learn to use the Kyuubi's power for Konoha."

"And what of the two civilians that you have taken along with him?"

Danzo seemed to falter slightly for a moment before he regained himself. "They will be released, of course, but you must understand that they cannot be allowed to know of what is going on. They will ask questions, questions that we cannot have. They will have to have their memories altered so that they no longer remember him. Inoichi should be up to the task." He had previously wanted them disposed of, but he knew that Hiruzen would not approve of that. He was already gaining ground and didn't want to ruin it at the very end.

Hiruzen took a deep breath. He wasn't ready to deal with this right now. There were too many things going on in the village that required his attention, and this wasn't one of the more pressing matters. Danzo was right, in a way. Naruto did need training, and covert training wouldn't get him anywhere useful compared to the Jinchuuriki of the other villages. There had yet to be a single instance that would have hinted at the destruction the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki could cause. Would it be so bad to let him train Naruto? "There is no need for that."

"What do you mean?"

"Teuchi is an ex-ANBU. He knows how to keep secrets."

Danzo's eyes widened slightly. That was news to him. There were very few things that he did not know about in the village, but it seemed that Hiruzen had managed to fester away a few secrets away from him after all. "What of the daughter?"

"She has also been keeping Naruto's secret as a Jinchuuriki for some time now. There is no need to test her."

Danzo nodded slowly in acquiescence. "Hai."

"Teuchi and Ayame will be released with no harm done to them. They will go on with their normal lives. News of what had been found at their home has not be released, so that should not be difficult." Hiruzen leaned back in his chair tiredly. "As with Naruto, you will report to me of any major occurrences that may happen with Naruto."

Danzo nodded with more enthusiasm this time, though he managed to hide it slightly.

"Anything that you decide to train him in, you must alert me first."

After a few moments, he asked, "Is that all, Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen waved his hand, his eyes closed, "You are dismissed."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

* * *

Teuchi opened his eyes, instantly awake. He ignored his pounding headache and glanced around to take stock of where he was when memories of what had happened finally came back to him. He had gone to sleep, only to awaken to the faint swoosh of his window as it opened. He didn't have enough time to react before his assailant knocked him out. Back when he was a shinobi, he might have been able to put up a better fight, but running a ramen stand for the better part of the past decade was not something that honed his skills. He seemed to be in an underground cell of some sort as there was no light other than the torches on the walls, and Ayame was still unconscious, lying on the other side of the cell. They weren't shackled or anything, so he was able to rush over to her to make sure that she was uninjured. She seemed to be fine, other than being knocked out.

Footsteps alerted him as he turned around to see a man with a cane approaching their cell.

"Good. You are awake. We have much to discuss."

Teuchi recognized him and stood up. "Danzo," he growled. "What do you want?" He had heard rumors about Danzo and the more unsavory things that he had done, but this was his first face to face encounter with him.

"Nothing from you, actually. In fact, you two are about to be released," he responded easily.

It clicked. "Us two are about to be released. What about Naruto?"

"Naruto will stay with us." Before Teuchi could interrupt him, he continued. "This is under the Hokage's orders."

"What do you mean? Why would the Hokage have us kidnapped?"

"The Hokage wishes for Naruto to be properly trained as a Jinchuuriki. We had to kidnap him so that there would be no evidence that he was still alive. As I'm sure you must know, the knowledge that Naruto is a Jinchuuriki is not one that can stay safe for much longer. Already, he has been gaining recognition at the academy. How much longer do you think it will be before other villages send their shinobi to assassinate him? Do you truly think he is ready for that?"

Teuchi nodded. "That is understandable. I cannot give him the full training that he requires. My question is, why did you go through all that trouble instead of notifying me so that I could help set this up?"

Danzo chuckled softly. "That is because the Hokage did not know about this until it was already done. However, that is not something you need to worry yourself about. His orders are for you and your daughter to return to your normal lives. A decoy body has been placed in Naruto's stead so that there is an explanation for why he will no longer be there."

"What do you mean?" Teuchi asked with dread. Danzo had taken action without notifying the Hokage beforehand, and it seemed like the Hokage had agreed to Danzo's idea once it had gone in motion.

"Your house has been burned down. You three are presumed to have died, but there has been no official news of it yet, so there is still time to set you two up so that you would not have been in the house that night."

"How long have we been here?"

"This is only the day after. Your story will be that you were visiting a friend, someone that is under my command and leads an undercover civilian life, so that you will not be suspected. There has also been evidence placed that the fire was started with an inexperienced Katon Jutsu, as what would have been expected from an overeager academy student. You two will return and have Naruto's burial in three days' time. You will have no more contact with Naruto as he must focus on his training."

"The Hokage ordered this?" he toned portrayed his disbelief.

"This operation has been placed under my command. As long as Naruto is properly trained, I may do whatever I deem necessary."

Teuchi's head hung in defeat. "Hai. When will we be released?"

"As soon as your daughter wakes up, which should be in a few moments, and you two go through a medical evaluation to ensure that you are not injured. A medic will be here shortly."

Danzo turned around and walked back down the hallway.

Teuchi gave a sigh. Even as a civilian, he couldn't have a simple life.

* * *

Naruto groaned as he sat up. His head was throbbing and he was in a dimly lit cell. It seemed that whoever had kidnapped him had hit him harder than necessary to make sure that he had been knocked out. He guessed it was smart on their part as he was usually more durable than most people.

Standing outside of the cell was a man that had bandages that covered the right half of his face. Despite that, he still looked as if he were used to being in charge as he radiated authority. Naruto immediately disliked him. He seemed to be the type of person that thought he knew better than everyone else.

"You're awake, Naruto-kun," he said.

"What did you do with my family?" asked Naruto as he bit back a snarl. It wouldn't do well to antagonize the man further as he did not know where Teuchi and Ayame were.

"They are fine. They will be released shortly, but in the meanwhile, let us talk."

"What do you want to talk about?" He didn't like where this was going. Whatever came from this would not be good. All he had was this man's word that Teuchi and Ayame weren't already dead, and he wasn't just being kept prisoner to be killed later on. He would just simply jump away, but on the off chance that they were still alive, he didn't want to risk their lives.

"A few things, Naruto-kun. The first and foremost, the fact that I will be training you to become a shinobi."

"But I'm already in the academy," responded Naruto, slightly confused. He didn't think that him holding back in the academy would be that big of a deal, so there must be a different reason why this man had gone to such lengths. He would play dumb for now and fish for answers.

The man gave a sigh. "Do you know who I am, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto shook his head in the negative.

"Then allow me to enlighten you." His tone darkened. "My name is Shimura Danzo, and I will be in charge of your life for the foreseeable future. I have been a shinobi for longer than your "father" has been alive. Do not treat me like an idiot. It will not end well for you."

Naruto gulped. "I understand."

"Good." The mood lifted. "Now, the main objective of our training will be to allow you to harness the power of the Kyuubi." Danzo noticed Naruto's eyes widen slightly. "Yes, I do know that you hold the Kyuubi. Do not be surprised by such a simple grasp of knowledge."

Naruto berated himself silently. Danzo obviously held all the cards now. He would have to go along with whatever he wanted until he could find a way out of this mess.

"Aside from that, you will be training in all other fields of being a shinobi. You will not slack in other areas just because you are focusing on something else. Your training will begin tomorrow. Are we understood?"

Naruto nodded hesitantly before he started, "Am I allowed to see my family?"

"Yes. I will take you to see them as they leave. They will return to their normal lives and no harm will be done to them."

* * *

Naruto panted heavily as he kept his face up to keep his eye on Danzo. His hands slowly reached into his robes and pulled out a few kunai. They were swiftly thrown at Naruto, and he struggled to dodge out of the way. Normally, dodging them would have been no problem, but this was his second day of fighting without any rest. Danzo had been switching out with four root members who each took a few hours fighting him. That way, he wouldn't get used to a single set of skills to fight against, and would have to stay alert in order to survive the onslaughts. Once Danzo had found out about his unnatural stamina, he had taken full advantage of it in order to cram as many skills into him in as little time as possible.

Danzo himself seemed to be holding back slightly as to not kill him outright. He hadn't been kidding when he said that he would be training him, though it mostly seemed to consist of him finding different ways to beat him up. It was already a month since he had last seen his tou-san and Ayame. His thoughts wandered for a moment as he thought about what they would be doing right now. Danzo immediately noticed the lapse in his concentration and shunshinned over behind him, throwing a heavy kick at his head. Naruto barely managed to whirl around and block with his right arm before Danzo struck down on his head with an elbow.

Naruto was knocked to the ground where he lay as his head throbbed. It soon went away, but, thankfully, Danzo didn't seem to realize just how potent his healing factor was, even after all their training sessions.

"That will be all for now. You have improved slightly."

That might as well have been jubilations of congratulations if it were coming from anyone else. Danzo was not light in handing out compliments, and last week he had only been able to last half a day before he gave up. He always made sure to hold a little back and not use any of his Genjitsu. There were few people that he trusted enough to use that around, and Danzo was not one of them. He also didn't want to reveal too much, but he was almost always pushed to the edge in these sparring matches.

"You will return to your quarters. After you have healed, you will resume your training. One of your sensei will direct you to someone who will begin teaching you the basics of fuuinjutsu."

Naruto perked up unnoticeably. Maybe he could learn how to get rid of the seal that had been placed on his tongue the first day he was there. It didn't seem to do much, but Danzo was able to inflict a remarkable amount of pain to him whenever he wished, and that pretty much kept him on a leash.

He heard a faint rustle as Danzo left. In the beginning, he wouldn't have noticed it, but he had learned to be alert during his short time here. Pain was his reward if he ever slacked.

After a few minutes, he got to his feet and walked out of the training room that was just a little larger than his house was. It was mainly used for sparring, and his other lessons took place in small classrooms that usually had a maximum of ten other people near his age in them. None of them knew each other's identities as they wore masks at all times. He had become so accustom to it by now that he didn't think about it anymore, but the first few days were awkward as he got used to it. The mask that he wore had an owl on it. His clothing was also uniform now; black and grey were the dominant colors, just like all the other Root members here.

Danzo had given him to speech on the second day about how they were the ones to lie in the shadow of the tree in order to support it, and Naruto had given it much thought since then. He eventually came to the conclusion that, yes, he was willing to give up his life so that his tou-san and Ayame would be able to live in peace. The thought of them were what got him through the day, though he didn't let Danzo know any of that. The man already knew far too much about him for him to feel comfortable around him. Naruto himself knew little to nothing about him other than the fact that he was close friends with the Hokage.

As he walked down the hall, he thought about his life since he had been taken here. It mostly consisted of training and studying. Danzo said that they would begin the training to use the Kyuubi's chakra soon. The few times that he was able to interact with other children here, it had been muted. There seemed to be an unspoken rule that socializing was not allowed here, and he soon followed suit. He could see the reasoning behind it; they were training to defend their village, not to make friends. Despite that, he still felt that a bit of social interaction would have been nice. He was mostly an outgoing person, and keeping that in felt stifling at times.

His thoughts stilled as he reached his door that was nearly identical to the other doors on the hall. The only reason that he could tell it was his was because they were instructed to memorize every detail that they could, and the scratch marks on the floor were usually enough to signal which room was his. Eventually, you got to the point where you just remembered which room it was due to its position from other rooms that were easier to memorize, but Naruto had his own way of knowing as well. After his second week, he felt a developing ability to sense things around him, and not just chakra. Since none of his sensei taught that, he was left to his own devices to improve the skill, and Danzo occasionally threw some hints at what he could do to better it.

He opened the door and closed it behind him. His room had lights overhead, though they ran on batteries instead of being wired to anything. He assumed it was so that if they had to abandon the place then it wouldn't be a waste of resources. Though the Hokage "allowed" Danzo to run Root, he knew that technically it was illegal, and any knowledge that the Hokage might have of the Root would be denied in order to appease the public. Danzo had to live with that; sometimes the public were not ready to hear what had been done in order to keep the peace that they took for granted at times. Naruto also understood that, and he accepted it.

His room was sparsely furnished as well. There were no decorations, only things that were of use. In the corner was a bed that had a small table next to it, and at the other corner was a desk upon which there were a few notebooks and pens. He did, however, did have his own restroom, small as it was. As they were underground, there was no running water. Because of that, he had quickly learned some basic Suiton jutsu in order to provide water for himself to bathe with. Otherwise, he would have to find someone else to do it for him, and there was not always someone around for that. Any waste was used to contribute to growing the crops that were able to be grown underground. Danzo made sure that they were as self-sufficient as possible.

He made his way to the restroom and took a quick shower before drying off and getting into bed. His mask was placed on the table to his bed. Sometimes, he felt the urge to jump to his house to visit his tou-san and Ayame, but he quickly quelled those thoughts. When he was strong enough to protect them, he would allow himself to see them again. The way that they had been quickly taken down by the very people who trained here showed me how woefully incompetent he was compared to other shinobi. Against most of the children his age? He was fine. Against experienced shinobi? Not so well. His last thought before he fell asleep was that it wouldn't be as lonely if even Momo were here to keep him company.

* * *

Naruto stood at attention with an older Root member as they waited in front of Danzo's desk. He had been summoned a few minutes ago and was the first to show up, though the other one had followed shortly after. Judging by height, Naruto was obviously the youngest, despite being a bit tall for his age. The other one, wearing a Wolf mask, was noticeably older than him by a few years. Naruto's physique had more of the underlying childishness that stayed, even with all of the training. It was only two months after he had started training there, but it seemed he was already being sent on his first mission.

He could understand why, of course. His stamina and durability allowed him to train far harder and far longer than anyone else there, mostly due to the Kyuubi. Sometimes he could feel a different type of energy inside of him, one he was quickly coming to realize was the source of his Genjitsu, playing a role in it as well. He hadn't had many chances to practice it anymore as he was constantly under surveillance most of the time, but he still found a few moments here and there when he had a few free minutes in his room to experiment with some stuff. There were advantages and disadvantages to that. The biggest one, of course, was that he did not have the time that he used to have to practice, but he was able to make better use of the time and be more ingenious with his ideas as he was pretty much forced to do so.

"You two will be team Epsilon for the duration of this mission. Wolf," he said as he looked towards who was the tallest among them, "as the oldest and most experienced, you will lead this." He turned to the rest of them. "Owl, you will defer to him for command as this will be your first mission."

He reached into his desk and pulled out a scroll.

"The mission details are in here. You all have thirty minutes to prepare. Any questions?" He paused for a moment before continuing. "Dismissed."

"Hai, Danzo-sama," both of them intoned emotionlessly.

* * *

Naruto stood at in the doorway, all of the material that he would need strapped to the scrolls near on his waist. His progress in Fuuinjutsu was astonishingly rapid, and he had nearly picture perfect memory which meant that most of his time practicing was spent making perfect brushstrokes rather than actually memorizing information. He didn't know how useful the skill would be at first, but it was a blessing as he sped through months of instruction in mere days. He was already at the point to where he could condense certain lines into single characters so that he could make more room to contain other symbols. That meant that a single character on a scroll from him could contain a virtually infinite amount of characters underneath, all depending on how much complexity his mind could keep up with while writing it down.

His storage seals were simple for the most part, but they were designed so that he could unravel them with a single thread of chakra and they would release certain items in certain ways based on how he manipulated the chakra threads. He had yet to test out their efficiency in combat as it was something he was still perfecting, but this mission would be the perfect testing ground for it.

He quickly made his way to the briefing room where Wolf was waiting for him. It was Spartan room that had a large desk in the middle that had a large map of the Elemental Nations and the walls lined with scrolls.

"There have been reports of bandits that have been raiding some of the merchant caravans that were on their way to Konoha. Normally, a simple Genin or Chuunin team would be sent out to deal with this, but there have also been reports that the there is an B rank Kirigakure missing-nin that is the head the group. Danzo-sama sees this as a chance to see how you are progressing, and I am here to make sure that the mission goes smoothly in case of mishaps. If you are ready, we will leave now."

Naruto nodded.

* * *

As they made their way through the trees, Naruto thought about how odd it felt. He had been underground for around two months now, and being out in the open with the sun didn't feel right. It had taken Naruto a few moments to adjust to the sunlight as it was early morning before they set off. They had emerged from near one of the unused training grounds in the forest, so they was little danger of them being caught.

Naruto could feel the comfortable strain of his leg muscles as he propelled himself forward through the trees, enjoying the view and the sunlight as much as he could. It seemed a lifetime ago when this was a common sight for him, the sun streaming through the trees with the wind blowing around him.

An hour or so through their trip, they were close enough to the bandit sightings that they could set up camp there. They were moving extremely fast with a bastardized form of the arrowhead formation as they weren't expecting any opposition yet. Wolf raised his hand to signal for a stop, he landed near the tree he was on.

 _We will stop here,_ he signed. _The next caravan will be allowed to be taken, and we will trail the bandits back to their hideouts. There is no need to give ourselves away attempting to track them._ _Find secure positions that are close enough so that we can signal each other, and wait. The next caravan should be arriving within an hour._

They all split apart and hid in the shadows of the trees, Wolf using some technique so that he blended in with the background. Naruto himself released a cloak from one of his scrolls that also had seals on it containing different ink patterns that he could manipulate with his chakra threads. He was able to suppress rest of his chakra afterwards since the change could stay by itself, and froze himself by stabilizing his chakra around certain parts of his body. The chakra was no longer moving, so there was little chance of him being recognized because of the small amount that had been released.

* * *

About fifty minutes had passed before a caravan that had maybe ten people and four wagons drawn by horses passed underneath them. They were headed towards Konoha. Naruto stopped himself from tensing and looked over to where Wolf was hidden. A few moments later, Wolf signaled, _We will follow them._

They trailed the caravan silently for about half an hour before Naruto noticed a few chakra signatures move to intercept said caravan. Five figures walked out into the middle of the path to stop the wagons from going further. Three more showed up behind them to stop them from escaping from the other side.

"Hey!" called out one of the bandits. "Everyone get out and lay on the ground, and you won't get hurt."

Wolf signaled for them to stop and observe.

The person that was on the horse at the front immediately stumbled to the ground.

"Please! I have kids that I need to provide for!" he pleaded as he got down on his knees.

Naruto didn't focus on the rest of the exchange as Wolf signaled for him to tail someone. Wolf would focus on the bandit that had first spoken, and Naruto chose to keep track of the one in the middle of the three that had showed up from behind in case they split up.

The bandits quickly took the goods that were worth the most, metal wares in this case, and quickly took back into the forest. The head bandit, the one that had commanded the caravan to stop, directed them as to where to go, and it wasn't a difficult task to keep track of them as they mostly bumbled through the trees. They trekked for a good twenty minutes before they came upon a camp in a large clearing that had around ten tents and dozens of people that seemed to be bandits there. There were a few that also seemed to be shinobi, based on their state of dress and the weapons that they carried. A few of them had a ninjato strapped to their backs while a relatively larger amount also had shuriken pouches. All in all, he estimated that there were probably around ten or fifteen shinobi. Wolf had only mentioned one B rank, but if the rest were C rank, or even D rank, it could be enough to make the mission difficult. They would have to rely on the element of surprise in order for things to work in their favor.

They stayed in the trees for a few more hours, observing the camp. Once the sun started to set, Wolf signaled for them to leave.

Naruto followed behind him as they traveled a few minutes away from the camp. They eventually stopped in a small clearing that they happened upon, and set up their supplies for the wait.

 _We will attack tomorrow,_ signed Wolf.

 _Understood._

 _I will watch._

Naruto did a double take. _What?_

Wolf explained, _I will watch while you complete the mission. Danzo-sama wishes to see how far you have progressed._

Naruto hesitated for a brief moment before he nodded. _Hai._

He would have to come up with a strategy to take down the entire camp. He had one main advantage that he could use: shadow clones. Each of them had his own abilities, though they would be destroyed in one hit. He had yet to discover a way to make them more durable, but he hadn't spent much time working on that either. One thing he was able to do was to create duplicates of his seals while the shadow clones were active, so he could basically multiple his own weapon supplies in battle. They would also disappear once the shadow clone went away, but it was still extremely useful. If he could position his clones in the right spots, he could assign one to each person in the camp and the entire mission could be over in a moment.

Wolf signed again, _It will be up to you to decide how to complete the mission. Should you fail, you will be punished harshly by Danzo-sama. Do not fail him._

Naruto sighed to himself. O ye, of little faith. _Hai. The mission will be complete._

They already knew where most of the people were in the camp. It seemed that the shinobi had their living quarters in the middle of the camp based on where they had mostly gathered, and the ordinary bandits had their tents set up around the edges of the camp in order to provide a defensive line. It would do little good against Naruto. He spent the rest of the night making changes to his plans. He had told Wolf that he would keep watch for the first half of the night, though he didn't necessarily need the sleep the other half would give him.

* * *

Naruto peered through the foliage as the camp was waking up. Wolf had insisted on waiting until most of them were up before attacking to "test" Naruto's abilities. It wouldn't do for them to fall without a fight since Danzo already knew that he was skilled in stealth. What he didn't know was how Naruto would perform in a life or death situation. Would he freeze during the middle of a kill or finish it without delay? Naruto himself didn't know the answer to that one. He supposed he would find out today.

He silently made the hand signs for the shadow clones and they appeared without any smoke to give them away. There were fifty of them, and they quickly surrounded the camp. When they were all ready, Naruto gave the signal by throwing an exploding tagged shuriken onto the largest tent in the middle, since that was where he presumed the B rank to be at. It wasn't to kill him; he just wanted to get his attention.

The shadow clones quickly deployed into the camp, making quick work of the unprepared bandits. The dark uniform with the white owl mask along with the shuriken that painted him as a shinobi caused many of them to attempt to flee. They didn't get very far. The ones that stayed were only cut down faster. Once the shadow clones killed someone, they popped themselves since they weren't needed anymore, and the remaining chakra went back to Naruto. He wanted to get rid of all of the cannon fodder so that he could have a proper fight with the shinobi that were rapidly rushing out of the center tent. All it took was a chakra enhanced punch to the chest or a shuriken to a vital. The fight was over in less than three minutes.

During the chaos, the missing-nin gathered around the center where they were fighting a few of the clones. Since the clones weren't able to directly block any heavy attacks, they either deflected it or dodged it. Once the ninja were the only ones left, another exploding tag landed in the middle of the skirmish, causing them to all jump away. The shadow clones gathered on one side of the clearing while the missing-nin gathered on the other side.

One of them spoke up.

"Why are you attacking us?!" one of the bandits yelled.

Someone else put his hand on his shoulders. He seemed to be the leader as the rest of them looked as if they had second hand clothing while he wore ones that look as though they actually fit him. "It's obvious. They are Konoha ANBU," he bit out angrily.

"Correct," replied a Naruto clone in monotone. Those months spent underground without much social interaction didn't do much for his communication skills. "Our mission is to take you down. Will you come peacefully?"

"Never!" snarled one of them. "You might have taken down some of our people, but they were just bandits. You don't stand a chance against all of us, and you definitely can't beat Mokichi-san," he glanced towards their leader.

"Calm down, Hisato," said the aforementioned Mokichi. "Konoha shinobi, will you allow us to leave in peace?"

"Negative. My mission is to bring you down. Either you will come peacefully, or I will kill you." Naruto gave a faint smile. "I would personally prefer the latter; I have need to test my strength."

Hisato gave an inarticulate scream before he rushed forward, swinging his ninjato wildly.

The Naruto that he had rushed at dashed backwards as another one closed in behind Hisato.

"Patheic," he said as he drove a kunai through Hisato's back where his heart was.

He fell to the ground twitching. He was ignored as Mokichi began speaking again.

"Before you decide, you must know that I am Tsuga Mokichi, the poison of Kiri. Have you heard of me?"

"I am assuming that you are a B ranked missing-nin. Is that correct?"

"Hai. And you still wish to fight?" He waved around him. "They are also missing-nin as well. All have proven their worth to me, and are capable fighters."

They tensed as another Naruto, the real one this time, jumped down from the trees. The rest of the clones faded away like shadows.

"It is my mission to take you down. You have poached on caravans that supply Konoha with resources. There is no other alternative. Either come with me, or die," said Naruto. This would be his last attempt at negotiation. He wanted to at least be able to say he tried.

"I see. If there is no other option, then…" He shunshinned next to Naruto, his ninjato already in mid-swing.

Naruto ducked under the blade and kicked at him only for the kick to be dodged. He was quickly occupied as Hisato jumped back, and the other ninja rushed in to fight him. He pulled out his own ninjato from one of his scrolls and began fighting them off. They were incredibly slow, even slower than he remembered the academy students being. Maybe it was just his training that was paying off.

He easily deflected shuriken and blocked other ninjato, sometimes dodging whenever he got the chance. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, he would jab out with his own to catch a vital spot or cripple. Their numbers quickly dwindled until there was only seven of them left. At one point, they managed to coordinate their attacks so that he would not be able to deflect them all as they swung at him from different angles. He quickly did a signless shunshin behind Mokichi, who was standing back and watching the fight.

Mokichi reaction quickly, driving an elbow back that was caught by Naruto's left hand as his right hand punched forward with the handle of his ninjato still gripped. Mokichi ducked and rolled forward before standing back up.

Before he could regain himself, Naruto had rushed forward with his ninjato. He only had time to raise his own ninjato and point it directly at Naruto, hoping that it would ward him off. Naruto simply allowed himself to be impaled by it as he swiped at Mokichi's throat, decapitating him.

He calmly stepped back and pulled the weapon out, casually tossing it to the side. His head cocked to the side when the remaining shinobi began chuckling.

"I question what you find amusing."

"You were listening earlier, were you?" asked one of them.

Naruto thought for a moment before he put it together. "Ahh. I see. So is this the main reason why is called the poison of Kiri?"

The one that had replied grinned. "Mokichi was an expert on poison. You have about a minute before your body is paralyzed, and about five minutes before you're dead."

A figure jumped down from the trees. "You have disappointed me, Owl," said Wolf as he faced the remaining group of ninja. "You have become injured. I do not know what poison was used, nor do I have the abilities to concoct an antidote in time." He glanced at Naruto. "He will be most displeased that he has lost a promising candidate. The situation that will occur after your death will be most troublesome to resolve."

"There is no need to worry," retorted Naruto offhandedly. "I am uninjured." Wolf look towards Naruto's chest to see that the wound had already healed.

"What?!" shrieked one of the ninja. "How?!"

Naruto blinked. "A good healing factor, for one. And two, I had already known that his blade was poisoned. I calculated the risks and decided that there was none."

The ninja opened his mouth to speak, and Naruto snapped his fingers. A gurgling cough game out as a blade appeared in his chest. The other ninja looked at him in shock before several wet piercing noises signified that the same had happened to them. Naruto's remaining shadow clones had created additional shadow clones, enough for their final task, and had been waiting for his command.

Wolf gazed at Naruto for a moment before speaking. "A team will be dispatched to clean this up. We will leave now."

"Hai."

* * *

As the months passed, Naruto was still occupied with his training which included the basics such as Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, and so on. At the moment, he was lying in bed, resting from a training session that had taken place a few hours ago. A few months into his fuuinjutsu training, he had become proficient enough in the art to where he sensei was no longer necessary. He now learned mostly from scrolls, and by testing out seals with his clones. The first time a seal had misfired, his arm had nearly been blown off, and he usually experimented with clones after that. One of the results of him improving his fuinjutsu was the fact that he was able to create suppression seals for himself. Because of that, he was constantly functioning at around half his strength and speed. The fact that he was still able to perform well in spars encouraged him, and he rarely deactivated the seals.

The only time that he had deactivated him was on the first mission after he had successfully created them. He didn't want to take any risks, but reactivated them halfway through to test out how he would do. The mission had gone on without a hitch, and they stayed on after that. Most of his missions involved him either gathering pieces of intel for Danzo, or exterminating groups of shinobi for which he made liberal use of his shadow clones as a nod to Teuchi for teaching him before he had joined Root.

Most of the ninjutsu the he knew was seldom used; he much preferred simple jutsu used in strategic ways rather than utilizing the overpowering amount of chakra that he contained. Danzo also approved of this as it would force him to become a better strategist instead of a simple juggernaut. That didn't mean that he wasn't durable, however. He discovered during one training session when he failed to dodge a rain of kunai that they were no longer able to pierce his skin unless he willfully allowed them to. Something with his Genjitsu prevented certain things from happening to his body, to an extent. He still fought as if they could, though; it wouldn't do for his skills to decline due to him growing lax.

Danzo had recently found out about his Genjitsu during a spar where he had gone up against seven older Root members in a suicide run where they would fight him in groups and switch out when they were tired. Halfway through the second day, when he was going up against three of them, two of them had managed to distract him with a blitz taijutsu attack while the third one managed to maneuver himself behind Naruto. Naruto had twisted his body around in order to deflect one of the kunai that had been thrown when one of the Root members managed to deliver a palm strike to his temple, temporarily disorientating him. When he regained his bearings, he realized that he had accidentally jumped to the other side of the room.

Danzo had immediately realized this wasn't a ninjutsu since there had been no chakra in used. After interrogating Naruto, he concluded that it must have been something that came with being the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi. Kitsune were known for their illusions, and would it really be that much of a stretch for the Kyuubi to have a more powerful form of illusion where it could affect the physical plain? Danzo had thought of the Sharingan and the multiple properties that different ones had. Just like the Sharingan, Jinchuuriki could manifest different properties of their Biju, and it seemed as if Naruto had lucked out.

In any case, Danzo had made sure that Naruto had practiced with his abilities. His sparring sessions now had handicaps where he could only use certain abilities in order to become proficient in them. Even a few missions that weren't as vitally important as some of them were had instructions of how they needed to be completed in order for Naruto to develop different fighting styles. In order for Konoha to stay on the top, their Jinchuuriki could not have a weakness that he could not compensate for. Thus, being able to switch between different strengths, he was able to cover weaknesses that might have been apparent otherwise.

A knock on the door broke him out of his musing. He got up, put on his mask, and opened the door to find someone with a rat mask waiting for him.

"Yes?" asked Naruto.

"Danzo-sama requests your presence in his office as soon as possible," said Rat, slightly reverently. His reputation had grown swiftly within the organization, and many members looked up to him due to his fighting prowess and the amount of favor that Danzo showed him. Him being a Jinchuuriki was not information that was common, however.

Naruto nodded. "I will be there shortly."

"Hai."

He closed the door and stepped back into his room. After changing into his uniform from the sweats that he had been wearing, he made his way through the underground labyrinth to Danzo's office. He sensed that Danzo was waiting in there with another presence. He gave opened the door and walked in.

"Owl, please, sit down." Danzo always seemed to be a bit more cordial with him. He doubted that Danzo fully realized how far his abilities had progressed, but Danzo did know that he had always been keeping the true extent of his powers hidden. He didn't like it, but he could respect it since he knew that Naruto's loyalty was to the village.

The other person in the room gazed at him curiously. He had a cloak on to hide his figure, but Naruto was able to make out who he was. He looked quite a bit older than the last time he had seen him, and it made him wonder what had caused that. He had a few guesses since he was privy to information that many others were not, but he still spent most of his time training instead. Danzo was the one who took apart intel and came up with missions, Naruto just took them.

As Naruto sat down, Danzo picked up a scroll and handed it to him.

"This scroll contains the information for your next mission. During this mission, you will have no restrictions; successful completion is paramount for the village's safety and future. You may take a few moments to read over it."

Naruto nodded and opened the scroll. There was information regarding why this mission was necessary, but he skimmed over that part once he realized what it was; he already knew most of the inner workings of the village. Once he finished reading the part where it stated what was required of him, he looked up at Danzo.

"This is extremely risky," he pointed out redundantly.

"That is why you will be working with him," he gestured to the person sitting next to Naruto, "to ensure that everything goes as planned. This is not a mission that you can refuse," he added. There was little point in that, however, as Naruto had never turned down a mission before.

"I see. When will this take place?"

"You two may decide what date will work best. I trust your decision will be a good one."

"Hai, Danzo-sama."

The other person in the spoke up. "We may discuss this elsewhere. The less people that have information about this, the better."

Danzo concurred. "You are correct. Owl, please move this somewhere that you will not be heard. You two are dismissed."

"Hai."

They both got up and headed to the door.

Naruto spoke up. "I have heard much about you, Itachi-san."

* * *

 **So, it should be pretty obvious now that it's the Uchiha Massacre that is going to be happening soon. If wasn't, then I'm sorry for the spoiler lol**

 **I'm not sure how long it will be until my next update, but I definitely won't stop writing for this any time soon. If I do, I'll let you guys know like I did for my other story. Just putting that out there in case any of you think that I'm abandoning this (some writers go for months without any updates on the status of their stories, and it's one of my pet peeves).**

 **If there are any mistakes in my writing, feel free to let me know. I'm still trying my best to improve as a writer, and any constructive criticism is welcome. Just don't be too harsh, please :)**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**

* * *

 **Update 7/15/2016**

 **Sorry for being off the radar for so long, everyone. Things have been extremely busy with classes, work, and a new relationship. I have some of the next chapter for Nihilism written out, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to get around to finishing it. Anyway, if any of you are still interested in reading it, let me know, and I'll try to make more time for it.**


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